In today’s world popularity of computers and high-tech devices has made the issues of privacy very important. As huge players such as Google and Facebook monitor our activities online, some are rushing for service providers who adhear to principles of data protection. This is why private search engines are in existence; they enable the user to search privately and anonymously.
Understanding Private Search Engines
Private search engines can be divided into traditional ones and new search engines; the latter is distinguished by the ways it collects and uses data. They prioritize user privacy by:
- Avoiding data collection: They usually don’t gather or save data including search history, IPs or cookies etc.
- Minimizing tracking: To avoid being monitored by third-party sites they use measures to minimize tracking.
- Providing anonymous browsing: Some of them can include anonymous browsing mode or proxy to improve the privacy of the user.
Now let’s have a closer look at the list of top five private search engines to consider.
- DuckDuckGo: DuckDuckGo is one of the best examples of private search engines that do not track their users’ data. It does not follow the behavior of users or disclose the information that helps to identify them. Advertisement and Trackers are also eliminated by PIIA through a browser extension offered by DuckDuckGo.
- Startpage: Startpage is a search engine that uses Google to provide results but it doesn’t even save any individual details. It works with a proxy to fulfil the user’s privacy and has additional options such as Anonymous View.
- Qwant: A European based search engine which is sensitive to privacy and protection of users’ data. The only downside with Qwant is that it lacks many features that help in enhancing privacy such as no tracking of personal details, no advertisements, and no revelation of the user’s identity.
- Brave Search: Still, it is a young search engine that can be called a newcomer in the field of private search engine providers based on the Brave browser. Some of the benefits are that it is a search engine that provides a more personal and clean interface that is totally devoid of advertisements.
- Searx: A search engine which is mainly being supported by the people and communities and which allows high levels of personalization. Searx offers interface customization or in other words, a customizable search interface and a customizable privacy level.
Several considerations to Make Before Selecting a Private Search Engine
- Privacy Policy: Check the organization’s privacy policy to know how they deal with users’ data, specifically for the search engine being used.
- Features: Take into account the options that available in every engine, including ad-blocking, anonymous connection, and others.
- Search Results: Check the relevance of results and the quality to see whether the type of search results will suit your needs.
- Community and Support: It is also necessary to pay attention to a search engine with a supportive community and active development.
- Speed and Performance: Think about how quickly a given search engine is and whether or not it is optimized for your kind of search.
- Accessibility: Make sure the search engine is friendly to those with disabilities including that the users can use a screen reader or such options as high contrast interface theme.
- Additional Features: It is noteworthy that among private search engines, there is often the possibility of setting up parental control or providing material of an educational nature.
Here are some strategies that you may use to increase your privacy while using the internet.
In addition to using a private search engine, consider these tips to enhance your online privacy:
- Use a VPN: An approach like the Virtual Private Network (VPN) can encrypt your traffic and on the top of that, can conceal your IP address.
- Be Cautious of Cookies: It can be controlled or reduced through properly configuring a browser to reject cookies.
- Strong Passwords: Do not use weak and similar passwords for every one of your profiles on the Internet.
- Two-Factor Authentication: This should be allowed as much as possible to incorporate the two-factor authentication to the system.
- Stay Informed: The worst things in life are free — or so the saying goes, and while this old adage certainly applies to bits of wisdom like this one, it’s especially concerning when we speak of the threats that haunt the internet: cyber criminals, stalkers, identity thieves, and so on.
- Limit Social Media Sharing: In particular, visibility of users’ activity has to be taken into consideration in regard to what is posted to the profiles shared in social media, as this information can be used for tracking.
- Secure Your Devices: Update your devices to fix the bugs that may allow hackers to access your bank accounts.
- Be Wary of Phishing Attempts: One should be wary of emails or messages that request for details such as your PIN or Credit Card details since it could be a phishing email.
- Use Secure Wi-Fi Networks: Users should never perform any activities of high risk on public networks because they are insecure.
- Consider Privacy-Focused Browsers: There are some browsers which are developed with privacy focus and provide extra features in order to enhance your anonymity.
Through the selection of the private search engine and the implementation of measures described above, you will be able to improve the level of privacy greatly and manage your online persona effectively.
