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Title: Scroogle Gets Screwgled For Good After Days Of DDoS Attacks
Source:
[None]
URL Source: http://www.webpronews.com/scroogle- ... r-days-of-ddos-attacks-2012-02
Published: Mar 3, 2012
Author: -
Post Date: 2012-03-03 04:03:51 by Eric Stratton
Keywords: None
Views: 213
Comments: 12
Options to prevent Google’s gropey hands from gathering your browsing information have dwindled today due to the shuttering up of Scroogle. For those unawares, Scroogle was a search engine that acted as an “online condom” to enable users to practice safe searching while preventing companies like Google from tracking your habits. The main cause for the site’s shutdown is said to stem from a constant stream of recent DDoS attacks. In an email to BetaBeat, the site’s main operator, Daniel Brandt, said that the privacy-friendly search engine is “gone forever.” “I no longer have any domains online. I also took all my domains out of DNS because I want to signal to the criminal element that I have no more servers to trash. This hopefully will ward off further attacks on my previous providers.” The other sites mentioned by Brandt that he maintained were namebase.org, book-grab.com, google-watch.org, and cia-on-campus.org. Since Google also offers an encrypted search option that enables protection from info-tracking bloodhounds, including companies like Google itself, that may explain why Google made it difficult for Scroogle to operate smoothly. For those left longing for a way to search Google without the spectre of Google and others tracking their browsing history, Search Engine Land has compiled a list of offerings that users may find helpful. In my own experience, DuckDuckGo.com has served me the best although I haven’t experimented extensively with other privacy-first search engines because I was immediately satisfied with DuckDuckGo’s straight-forward policy. If any readers have further suggestions for Scroogle alternates, feel free to add them below in the comments. “Even if all my DDoS problems had never started in December, Scroogle was already getting squeezed from Google’s throttling, and was already dying. It might have lasted another six months if I hadn’t lost seven servers from DDoS, but that’s about all.
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#1. To: Eric Stratton (#0)
(Edited)
I'm using Ixquick. If I want Google search results with no tracking, I use their Scroogle-like service, StartPage.com. There are alternatives to Scroogle. Google's new (no-)privacy policy goes into effect today.
Dr Albrecht who works for ixquick stated that STARTINGPAGE.COM is the one that offers the google results, distinct from their STARTPAGE.com version. i havent done a comparison test.Theyre coming out with email soon!
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
the one thing i dislike about startpage is that they opt for a content filter by default, & if you want ACTUAL EXACT google results you must change the option & thus accept an 'anonymous cookie' from them to save that setting.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
He may have stated something but that wasn't it. StartingPage.com is just another name for StartPage.com. Go there and look. It says so right on the StartingPage.com site.
Dr Katherine Albrecht (author of spychips) is VP of PR at ixquick & has explained countless times on her radio show the distinct difference between Startpage.com and startingpage.com. Doesnt matter,but you can email her directly for a specific explanation
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
The cookie is only used to save your privacy settings, not for sending to Google. Almost every web site does this, to determine repeat visitors, to store settings on the website and so on. Just like 4um stores a cookie when you sign in here. In Settings, they also allow you to save the same options for use as a URL, so you can create a Bookmark or Favorite, or put it in your search engine list that way. There's nothing wrong with them storing a cookie. It's third-party tracking cookies and unified tracking services where these companies plot against you and sell or trade or share all your info that is the threat to privacy.
Whatever. I noticed in one of her videos, she mentioned the "Proxy" links that are attached to each search result returned by StartPage. So if you visit sites using that link, the proxy fetches the pages for you, keeping your IP address and cookies and cache private. Startpage doesn't spy on them and they prevent any site you visit from seeing them. I hadn't noticed that feature yet. I bet I'm not the only one.
point taken, but since they advertise google results, they should put the actual results as default and not force unknowing users to alter their settings in order to garner google results. Also, ironically, the company spokesperson decries cookies.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
Any website that offers options must store a cookie. So if you want to allow any custom options, you have to have a cookie or set it up (as they did) to read and use special URLs that encode the same info into the URL. No one complains over legit website cookies. It is third-party cookies (tracking cookies) and things like one website browsing through the cookies of other websites to harvest info that these services are meant to prevent. You're almost 15 years to late to object to the entire concept of cookies. Nevertheless, you can operate cookieless with Startpage. But, since they do offer some necessary options, you do have to accept a cookie or use a special URL (which they will construct for you for easy bookmarking). I'm don't think you have much of a complaint to make.
I'm using duckduckgo, now.
#2. To: TooConservative (#1)
#3. To: TooConservative (#1)
#4. To: Artisan (#2)
Dr Albrecht who works for ixquick stated that STARTINGPAGE.COM is the one that offers the google results, distinct from their STARTPAGE.com version.
#5. To: TooConservative (#4)
#6. To: Artisan (#3)
the one thing i dislike about startpage is that they opt for a content filter by default, & if you want ACTUAL EXACT google results you must change the option & thus accept an 'anonymous cookie' from them to save that setting.
#7. To: Artisan (#5)
Dr Katherine Albrecht (author of spychips) is VP of PR at ixquick & has explained countless times on her radio show the distinct difference between Startpage.com and startingpage.com. Doesnt matter,but you can email her directly for a specific explanation
#8. To: TooConservative (#6)
#9. To: Artisan (#8)
Also, ironically, the company spokesperson decries cookies.
#10. To: Eric Stratton (#0)
-Alex Kurtagic
#11. To: X-15 (#10)
I'm mildly surprised that I haven't run across Joogle.com yet.
#12. To: Cornhuskerkid (#11)
deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”
—Samuel Adams
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