Episode 9: Search Engines That Don’t Track You
Duration: ~6 minutes | Format: Practical
Episode Summary
Google processes over 8 billion searches a day, and every one teaches Google something about the person asking — what you worry about, what you want, what you fear. Even with a private browser, using Google Search undermines everything. This episode covers the search engines that don’t build a profile on you.
This episode covers:
- The Google problem: Logged, timestamped, identity-linked queries and a personalized “filter bubble”
- DuckDuckGo: No tracking, no filter bubble, and handy “bang” shortcuts
- Startpage: Google-quality results delivered anonymously through a proxy
- Brave Search: A truly independent index with no third-party dependence
- SearXNG: The self-hosted metasearch option for maximum control
- A two-step switch — and how to use bangs for the rare Google-only query
Key Quotes
“Search queries are a window into your mind. Do you really want Google looking through that window?”
“You’re not searching the internet — you’re searching Google’s version of the internet, curated for you based on everything they know about you.”
The Takeaway
Change your browser’s default search engine to DuckDuckGo, Startpage, or Brave Search. In Firefox: Settings → Search → Default Search Engine. In Brave: Settings → Search Engine. That’s it — same search bar, same workflow. Give it two weeks to beat the muscle memory, and use the !g bang only for the rare query that truly needs Google.
Learn More
Start here: Privacy 101 Week 3: Browser Privacy
Transcript
Coming soon