Mutt
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Search engine security
And now about anonymity.
Search engine anonymity
Unlike Yandex, Google and the like, where all your Internet activity is stored, processed and analyzed, anonymous search engines do not store your Internet activity.
Persistent cookies on anonymous search engines are stored only if the default settings are changed, for example, if the DuckDuckGo interface language or the Ixquick interface theme is installed, but none of the alternative anonymous search engines use the user ID in the cookies.
The same Google does this with every request. For the processing of the IP address, Google analyzes numerous persistent ID cookies to accurately identify the user.
Now let's move on to the very list of anonymous search engines.
Yacy
Let's start with the search engine Yacy.
YaCy is a decentralized search engine that works on the principle of peer-to-peer P2P networks (Like everyone's favorite Torrent).
In the YaCy network, every computer with special software installed is part of a crawler crawler. After each collection of information, the robot sends data to a common database, which is used by the participants of the search engine.
The fact that the search engine does not have a single server and owner makes search results independent of the preferences of intermediaries. All search results are free of any censorship.
An important factor is the ability to search in DeepWeb, although specialized tools are better suited for this purpose.
At the moment, Yacy's biggest drawback is its speed.
DuckDuckGo
Every second has heard about this search engine, because it is considered the most anonymous and is the most popular search engine among all similar ones. Even the Tor developers have shoved it into the Firefox browser as their default search engine.
The most important advantage of a search engine, along with a high level of anonymity and security, is the relevance of search results. He finds information well, not perfect like Yandex and Google, but good. In addition, I would like to note the speed of work as one of the significant advantages.
DuckDuckGo uses HTTPS by default with AES encryption and a 128-bit key.
Key features of DuckDuckGo:
Ixquick
Ixquick.com is a worthy competitor to DuckDuckGo, and in some ways even better.
It is the first search engine to remove confidential data from its users. IP addresses and other personal information of users are deleted 48 hours after the search.
Also, the search engine has an interesting feature "Proxy mode". Next to each site in the search results there is a "Proxy" button, by clicking on which you will receive information from the site anonymously (the Startpage robot will go to the desired page, after which it will download it and display it to you).
Key features of Ixquick:
eTools.ch
The eTools.ch search engine does not have its own index and ranking algorithms; search results are taken from other services: Ask, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Google, etc.
eTools.ch uses HTTPS by default between client and server.
Key features of eTools.ch:
Privatelee
Privatelee is not the most popular service. The search results are formed on the development of its index. The quality of search results is far from ideal.
You can add Google, Ask, and Bing SERPs using Power Search filters.
There are almost no settings. A WOT rating icon is displayed next to each site. Yes friends, you heard right, the developers of the search engine apparently do not know that Web of Trust spies on users...
Other anonymous search engines
Anonymous search engines that were not included in our list due to less rich functionality:
- A secure search first of all begins with an encrypted transmission of a request between the user and the server.
There is an excellent tool, SSL Server Test, for testing encryption. - A search engine that claims to be anonymous and secure should first of all forcefully automatically establish a secure SSL connection.
- Another important criterion is the length of the encryption key.
The longer the better. - You should also pay attention to PFS.
In simple words, PFS is a write protection of an encrypted session by intelligence agencies and hackers.
And now about anonymity.
Search engine anonymity
Unlike Yandex, Google and the like, where all your Internet activity is stored, processed and analyzed, anonymous search engines do not store your Internet activity.
Persistent cookies on anonymous search engines are stored only if the default settings are changed, for example, if the DuckDuckGo interface language or the Ixquick interface theme is installed, but none of the alternative anonymous search engines use the user ID in the cookies.
The same Google does this with every request. For the processing of the IP address, Google analyzes numerous persistent ID cookies to accurately identify the user.
Now let's move on to the very list of anonymous search engines.
Yacy
Let's start with the search engine Yacy.
YaCy is a decentralized search engine that works on the principle of peer-to-peer P2P networks (Like everyone's favorite Torrent).
In the YaCy network, every computer with special software installed is part of a crawler crawler. After each collection of information, the robot sends data to a common database, which is used by the participants of the search engine.
The fact that the search engine does not have a single server and owner makes search results independent of the preferences of intermediaries. All search results are free of any censorship.
An important factor is the ability to search in DeepWeb, although specialized tools are better suited for this purpose.
At the moment, Yacy's biggest drawback is its speed.
DuckDuckGo
Every second has heard about this search engine, because it is considered the most anonymous and is the most popular search engine among all similar ones. Even the Tor developers have shoved it into the Firefox browser as their default search engine.
The most important advantage of a search engine, along with a high level of anonymity and security, is the relevance of search results. He finds information well, not perfect like Yandex and Google, but good. In addition, I would like to note the speed of work as one of the significant advantages.
DuckDuckGo uses HTTPS by default with AES encryption and a 128-bit key.
Key features of DuckDuckGo:
- SSL / PFS encryption standard.
- The servers are located in America.
- There are apps for Android and iOS.
- Does not store confidential data and IP address.
- Does not transfer confidential data to third parties.
- Does not store user ID in Cookies.
- Does not track third party cookies.
- There is a mobile version of the site.
- There is a typo recognition system.
- Ability to disable the display of ads.
- The site interface can be changed to Russian.
Ixquick
Ixquick.com is a worthy competitor to DuckDuckGo, and in some ways even better.
It is the first search engine to remove confidential data from its users. IP addresses and other personal information of users are deleted 48 hours after the search.
Also, the search engine has an interesting feature "Proxy mode". Next to each site in the search results there is a "Proxy" button, by clicking on which you will receive information from the site anonymously (the Startpage robot will go to the desired page, after which it will download it and display it to you).
Key features of Ixquick:
- SSL / PFS encryption standard.
- The servers are located in the Netherlands.
- There are apps for Android and iOS.
- Doesn't save search history / IP address / confidential data.
- Does not transfer confidential data to third parties.
- Does not store user ID in Cookies.
eTools.ch
The eTools.ch search engine does not have its own index and ranking algorithms; search results are taken from other services: Ask, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Google, etc.
eTools.ch uses HTTPS by default between client and server.
Key features of eTools.ch:
- PFS encryption standard
- Doesn't save IP address and confidential data.
- Does not transfer confidential data to third parties.
- Does not store user ID in Cookies.
Privatelee
Privatelee is not the most popular service. The search results are formed on the development of its index. The quality of search results is far from ideal.
You can add Google, Ask, and Bing SERPs using Power Search filters.
There are almost no settings. A WOT rating icon is displayed next to each site. Yes friends, you heard right, the developers of the search engine apparently do not know that Web of Trust spies on users...
Other anonymous search engines
Anonymous search engines that were not included in our list due to less rich functionality:
- Hulbee Anonymous Search Engine
- Anonymous search engine Lukol
- Anonymous search engine Yippy
- Disconnect Search Anonymous
