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Personalized Search From Google Now Opt-Out

Posted by Soulskill on from the escort-on-the-road-to-enlightenment dept.

An anonymous reader writes "CNet reports that 'Google now intends to deliver customized search results even to those searching its site without having signed into a Google account.' This may be what finally drives me to seriously experiment with cookie-free browsing. I consider non-personalized search results to be of value. They quasi-subconsciously give me a better perspective of the full range of information and ideas on the net. That, and I'm also a bit paranoid about a coming world with push-button infrastructure for personalized mis/disinformation."

4 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. TrackMeNot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'd wonder how it'll affect users of this nice Firefox extension...

    1. Re:TrackMeNot by krou · · Score: 5, Informative

      I prefer using Optimize Google (which is based on Customize Google, but that one is no longer maintained). Optimize Google enhances Google search results, but also allows you to make Google cookie UID anonymous, plus allows you to stop all cookies being sent to Google Analytics. You can also remove Google Ads, and Google click tracking. There are other options available for most other Google tools, too e.g. GMail, Calendar, Maps, Docs etc.

      --
      'If Christ had tweeted the sermon on the mount, it might have lasted until nightfall.' - John Perry Barlow
  2. Scraped Google by gzipped_tar · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'd suggest Scroogle (https://ssl.scroogle.org/ -- Google sans the crap), but it seems down at the moment. Cue the conspiracy theories in 3, 2, 1 ...

    --
    Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
  3. proxy search services by drDugan · · Score: 5, Informative

    I use a proxy as my default search service, like this:

    http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/nbbw.cgi?q=google+is+collecting+your+data

    There may also be others, but this one has worked for me.

    Downsides: no cached or similar pages, no searchable search history, no cute math results, none of the value-add search links or maps at the top of the results - just the plain search results.

    Upside: no data collection on my searches. (if I believe that the proxy is not also collecting data), you can also set it to give 100 search results as the default.