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TopClick Touts Private Searching

Posted by jamie on from the right-direction dept.

EasyTarget writes, "TopClick aims to be a search engine that is very privacy respecting, no cookies, banner ads or other data harvesting. It uses a common protocol to the Google search engine that prevents session tracking or user identification. Is this the start of mainstream companies that view strong privacy as a 'product' in itself?"

6 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Stuff by Shaheen · · Score: 4

    I searched for "Stuff" as my first search on TopClick, just to see what search results look like. The results were quite interesting.

    --
    You should never take life too seriously - You'll never get out of it alive.
  2. google cookies by peter · · Score: 4

    I agree with you, except that you're wrong about google's use of cookies. Observe:
    llama:~$ nc google.com 80
    HEAD / HTTP/1.0

    HTTP/1.0 200 OK
    Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 01:30:56 GMT
    Server: GWS/1.6
    Connection: close
    Set-Cookie: ID=6011ba7756ca44bd; domain=.google.com; path=/; expires=Sun, 17-Jan-2038 19:14:07 GMT
    Content-Length: 1539
    Content-Type: text/html
    Last-Modified: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 04:58:03 GMT

    See the Set-Cookie header?

    Even so, I mostly agree with your point that there doesn't seem to be any advantage to topclick over google, since neither one uses banner adds to help some nasty company track you. OTOH, topclick is making a point about their privacy intentions, and I like that. I'll support them for that any day, as long as they're in the same league. (and they are, since they use google:).
    #define X(x,y) x##y

    --
    #define X(x,y) x##y
    Peter Cordes ; e-mail: X(peter@cordes , .ca)
  3. Very Nice by dlc · · Score: 4

    This search engine appears to have just about everything I've been looking for in a search engine:

    • It uses google
    • the pages are small and load very quickly -- very few images at all
    • Well-designed interface

    They seem to be using the same database as Google -- I did a search for a few of my old email addresses (stuff that gets results from Google, pages that are no longer up any more), and I got the same results that I got with Google.

    Plus, it's runing Apache/PHP:

    (bfm4) $ HEAD
    http://www.topclick.com/
    200 OK
    Connection: close
    Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:42:35 GMT
    Server: Apache/1.3.4 (Unix) PHP/3.0.7
    Content-Type: text/html
    Client-Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:30:03 GMT
    Client-Peer: 204.71.176.40:80

    All in all, it looks like I'll be switching. The Bookstore has a bunch of Security related articles and books as well, categorized into secitons like Encryption, Consumer Profiling, and Spam.

    darren


    Cthulhu for President!
    --
    (darren)
  4. Don't get too excited about the searching... by eries · · Score: 4
    Ugh, I didn't realize how weak their future plan is. This whole search thing is a total traffic-generating ploy. They don't even plan on keeping it after they go "live"...

    Check this out:
    The Company has developed a substantial privacy-based information site with thousands of links to privacy issues, news, books and organizations. The company is constantly updating and improving this site and when it is ready for proper launch it will replace the existing search-based site as the home page and central focus of the web site in February, 2000. At such time, the existing search-based web site will be retired from service.

    give me a break...

    Want to work at Transmeta? Hedgefund.net? Priceline?

    --
    Can your IM do this?
  5. Erm... so what's this got over Google? by Lionfire · · Score: 4

    Okay... let's see...

    * TopClick is "secure"... since it doesn't use cookies? Erm... when was the last time you saw Google use cookies for anything? And even if it did, just turn them off in your browser if you're worried about that.

    * TopClick doesn't use banner advertising... neither does Google.

    * TopClick uses Google's database indirectly... same results, slightly slower (since you ask TopClick, it asks Google, gets Google's reply and then gives it to you).

    * TopClick is running under linux... so is Google.

    * TopClick runs Apache... Google runs its own custom server. Wow... who cares, so long as it works?

    Is it just me, or is there really no reason to switch from Google? We probably all have more trust for Google than some new group, so why make the change?


    ...MoO!

  6. How they will get revenue by ATKeiper · · Score: 5
    Last week (8 Mar 00) I spoke by telephone with Ian McCallum, who is in TopClick's Market Development group. Basically, I wanted to know how TopClick planned on making money, since we intended to feature them on our Personal Security page.

    Ian explained that TopClick believes there is a substantial segment of the Net population concerned with privacy, and that at least part of that segment would be willing to pay for services that protect privacy. Thus, while the search engine will remain free, TopClick will charge for other products they plan on rolling out (such as AllowMail, which another poster mentioned).

    A previous poster mentioned that he thought the name TopClick sounds particularly cheesey. While I'm not certain, I suspect that the name is intended to raise the specter of DoubleClick in your mind. Certainly for anyone concerned for their privacy, DoubleClick is never far from mind.

    So basically, the deal is this: the company seems to sincerely believe (in Mr. McCallum's words) "that every single member of the online community has an inherent and indisputable right to privacy on the Internet." They are going to work to educate the Net population, through their comprehensive Privacy Center. And they believe they are among the first of a (hopefully long) stream of companies that will prove wrong all those naysayers who cluck that privacy and profit are incompatible.

    A. Keiper
    The Center for the Study of Technology and Society