New search engine

[Ruffinogold]

update

Im still digging freespoke . I dont know the tech stuff but I like the results its gets in a search . Seems to be less bullshit stuff .. and thats about as in depth as I can get

[Mr Beardsley]

I started using brave on my computer in the garage since that's where I do most of my work nowadays. So far I like it. Definitely reminds me of my usual Chrome interface and I'm glad it was suggested to me to try

[kschatey]

I started using brave on my computer in the garage since that's where I do most of my work nowadays. So far I like it. Definitely reminds me of my usual Chrome interface and I'm glad it was suggested to me to try

Switching to Brave is pretty painless for anybody that uses and likes Chrome and recommended as it offers better privacy and blocks a lot of the Google marketing stuff.

[kschatey]

Just to illustrate how pervasive online tracking has become, here is a screenshot from my home Pi-hole for last 24 hours (only 16 hours active since I lost power this morning). Pi-hole is a whole network tracking and ad blocker, so it's covering not just browsers (like a browser plugin would), but everything in and out of computers, mobile devices, network devices (e.g., Amazon Echo, Roku, NAS), etc. Anyway, nearly 78% of the traffic is blocked JUNK (tracking/ads)! In case anybody is wondering, Roku and mobile phones (especially Google Pixel phones) are the worst for tracking/"phone home" requests.

[Citizen B]

I also use Brave since it allows profiles and syncing, but just don't opt into the Brave Rewards stuff.

What?!?

I would like some backstory on why you are comfortable discussing this topic so esoterically. I don't mind trying to get on your wavelength, but, this is Swahili to me. I am ignorant. Talk down to me. I will not take offense. What are you talking about?

You can start off by saying, "Look, Dummy..." and continue from there as you try to explain. I would like to understand.

My apologies for the delay in responding as I keep meaning to sit down at an actual keyboard to do so and then forget. Anyway, let's see if this explanation helps...

A web browser is the interface that a user interacts with to view web pages and applications. Underneath the browser is a rendering engine that does the heavy lifting of interpreting the code and passing it to the browser interface to be graphically displayed to the user. There are various browsers (and engines), but the primary ones are Apple Safari (Webkit), Mozilla Firefox (Gecko), Chromium (Blink). The key one of interest here is the last one, Chromium. Chromium is an open source web browser project that is the basis for many other popular browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Brave, Opera, and others. The base Chromium provides the rendering engine and very basic web browser functionality. Additional features and conveniences such as the ability to support multiple user profiles, profile syncing, etc. are all added by the individual browser authors. This is what makes a bit more proprietary and enables them to offer unique features event though they use the same underlying rendering engine and base code. The various Chromium-based browsers try to differentiate themselves in other ways, too. Chrome is Google's offering, of course, and is 100% focused on marketing and advertising given that Google is the largest online advertising provider. Privacy is therefore minimal and tracking your actions and using that information to market to your or reselling that to competitors is the cost of using their browser. On the other hand, Brave promises more privacy and less tracking, unless you opt into it by choice. There are varying degrees of privacy, marketing, tracking, etc. for all of the various browsers, but some level of privacy, etc. is given up by using any of them. After all, nothing is truly free, right?

It's possible to mitigate some of the privacy issues and tracking/advertising/marketing by using applicable browser plug-ins, Pi-hole, etc. Everything going to SSL (i.e., secure HTTP/HTTPS) helps. VPN, Tor, etc. are additional layers. Even further is using secure DNS. Why is that important? DN is what translates a URL (e.g., pipesmokersforums.com) to its actual address (i.e., 198.252.104.151). Traditionally, this is not a secure translation, can be tracked, and is subject to hijacking. But using a secure DNS service such as Unbound can prevent that.

Yes, this gets all very technical, but hopefully it helps illustrate the various privacy levels and concerns that exist on the modern internet as it affects everything from privacy to advertising to malicious actors (e.g., phishing, bots, hackers, etc.). It's up to you how much this matters and whether or not changing your actions are necessary. It's not easy to do so by design of the big online companies and providers. Nothing is free; you are paying for it somehow. YOU and your data are the currencies now.

I will still be your friend as long as you do not want to discuss this subject again.

No offense, brother, but, I don't have time to think about any of this about any of this. Call me a sheep. I don't mind. I am one of the ignorant masses. I do know that nothing is free. I also know that companies are making money off selling my data, whatever that may be---what websites I visit? Have fun. It is as dully eccentric as dishwater after the dishes are washed.

Ignorance is bliss. These companies make money and remake the world. Their stock price shows it, for now.

Duck Duck Go is heavy on the advertising right now. I even downloaded the app. I tried it. I don't care about what they are selling. I have used Duck Duck Go before, and I respect the guy who founded the company---I don't know if he still runs it but he probably does. Smart guy.

Is Duck Duck Go listed on the stock market or is it still private. With their recent advertising push, I am thinking they are about to go public but I am not going to invest in anymore tech stocks at the moment, so I haven't looked it up.

[kschatey]

I will still be your friend as long as you do not want to discuss this subject again.

No offense, brother, but, I don't have time to think about any of this about any of this. Call me a sheep. I don't mind. I am one of the ignorant masses. I do know that nothing is free. I also know that companies are making money off selling my data, whatever that may be---what websites I visit? Have fun. It is as dully eccentric as dishwater after the dishes are washed.

Ignorance is bliss. These companies make money and remake the world. Their stock price shows it, for now.

Ha ha! No worries. Was just trying to provide an explanation. This is my profession, so I have an ongoing interest. I will be the first to admit though that it's made intentionally difficult for people to understand and easily take action. As you said, the big players are doing what thay can to keep it that way and make oodles of money!

[Citizen B]

I will still be your friend as long as you do not want to discuss this subject again.

No offense, brother, but, I don't have time to think about any of this about any of this. Call me a sheep. I don't mind. I am one of the ignorant masses. I do know that nothing is free. I also know that companies are making money off selling my data, whatever that may be---what websites I visit? Have fun. It is as dully eccentric as dishwater after the dishes are washed.

Ignorance is bliss. These companies make money and remake the world. Their stock price shows it, for now.

Ha ha! No worries. Was just trying to provide an explanation. This is my profession, so I have an ongoing interest. I will be the first to admit though that it's made intentionally difficult for people to understand and easily take action. As you said, the big players are doing what thay can to keep it that way and make oodles of money!

I hear you 100%. I know all this. I just have other things to pay attention to.

I'm like this guy, out in the weeds:

[kschatey]

I will still be your friend as long as you do not want to discuss this subject again.

No offense, brother, but, I don't have time to think about any of this about any of this. Call me a sheep. I don't mind. I am one of the ignorant masses. I do know that nothing is free. I also know that companies are making money off selling my data, whatever that may be---what websites I visit? Have fun. It is as dully eccentric as dishwater after the dishes are washed.

Ignorance is bliss. These companies make money and remake the world. Their stock price shows it, for now.

Ha ha! No worries. Was just trying to provide an explanation. This is my profession, so I have an ongoing interest. I will be the first to admit though that it's made intentionally difficult for people to understand and easily take action. As you said, the big players are doing what thay can to keep it that way and make oodles of money!

I hear you 100%. I know all this. I just have other things to pay attention to.

Yeah, it's exhausting. IT and technology in general are things that I don't really want to deal with on a personal level after dealing with them all day at work. Unfortunately, friends and family come to me for advise and I have been able to get the expectations for that set to a reasonable level. I do try to watch out for my parents' online security though since the phishing and related items are relentless and they have become more savvy and harder for people to detect the bad stuff. Other than that, I also have too many other things that I'd rather be doing!