Google is everywhere and all-knowing. Our reliance on tech giants has empowered them tremendously at the expense of ourselves.
We have surrendered our internet privacy for convenience, and freedom for comfort, but is it a fair trade? It’s time we hit the brakes on the relentless erosion on our privacy and turn to encrypted search engines instead.
While the rest of the world is only just waking up the idea, France has already sworn off Google, and we should all take a leaf out of their book.
The French Already Have Bidden Farewell to Google
To protect themselves from Google’s extensive data collection and retention policies, The French National Assembly stated that they would abandon Google and adopt Qwant on all devices of the French government.
Alphabet’s Google was fined $57 million or €50 million by France’s watchdog of data protection on 14th of January, 2019 due to breached the European Union’s privacy rules. This penalty is the biggest ever levied against a United States tech giant.
Privacy breaches by Google that you need to know
A massive data leak of 500,000 Google+ users’s personal information was uncovered in March last year. Apparently, Google found fault in a network glitch. This glitch of privacy is assumed to have existed since four years ago, who knows how much damage had been done before this was a known issue.
Yes, data breaches are everywhere, so what? Pause for a moment and think about how much Google knows about you, and how much you entrust the company to keep safe for you: your less-than-glorious search history, your browsing history on Chrome, your confidential emails on Gmail, to name but a few.
What happens, if that sort of sensitive data is leaked, too? Shouldn’t we all be on the run from this data-hungry machine? If it’s impossible to cut Google out of your life, at least stay away from its search engine when there are multiple outstanding private alternatives out there.
Why is using an encrypted search engine is the best idea?
Surely, Google has a feature of private browsing called incognito mode which does not contain cookies, pre-filled forms, bookmark, and saved searches.
However, the incognito mode cannot stop your information from being collected by the third parties since you can still be tracked with your DNS records.
In the other hand, an encrypted search engine is not tracking you as it offers added protection layers during the search results delivery. The added protection layers may as well use local encryption for better privacy protection.
3 Benefits that offered by encrypted search engines
You can enjoy these benefits of encrypted search engines which you will not find in Google as below.
1. Your identity will be safe
An encrypted search engine is using aggregate as a non-personal search data which will not store your IP address and keep your identity in private.
2. Your browser history will be cleaned
As you finished the search, all of the histories on your browser would be expired. This can prevent any third parties from accessing your search terms information, even if they worked out to access your device.
3. No targeted advertisements
The advertisements on encrypted search engines are solely based on your current search term, not from your prior browsing history as the encrypted search engines do not run a network of advertising as Google does.
How will search look like in the future?
As the new year is bringing hopes and concerns of digital technology and its direction toward the whole new level, search engine, and its privacy issue will also follow.
Google algorithms are currently in evolution. Their webmasters need to expand their knowledge related to search engine algorithms, besides the SEO techniques, in order to keep their competitive edge. The top way is by learning more about machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and voice search.
In the other hand, you are asked to bear with the use of your data by the search engine in return of access to their vast numbers of information. In fact, the darker side of search engine companies is that harvesting and using your data as they have gleaned your online activity. For example, their relationship with government agencies like the National Security Agency (NSA) in the U.S.
Upcoming: 10 Best Tools to Protect Your Privacy
Author: Jeff Anderson
