this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
136 points (77.9% liked)

Privacy

32177 readers
402 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

In the last couple of months I have noticed an increasing trend of supplying me search results that are completely unrelated to the current query and tie back to my location or previous searches. I can say this with a high degree of certainty this is without a doubt beyond the 100th instance this has happened.

My browser is configured against tracking and fingerprinting (in fact all my devices are) which would make it fairly difficult to retain any data unless they are profiling me.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] lars@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So like… all Searx instances are independent, but I can save my preferences in a reproducible query string? Or like… how’s this a long-term, easy, good move for me? (I know ≈nothing).

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can do it that way if you grab that URL from the "cookies" section. Otherwise, it can save your preferences in a cookie.

[–] lars@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks!

Do all the Searx instances generate and keep independent indexes of the entire internet, or is it more like Lemmy (where, maybe, each instance is a window into the entirety of the index)?

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

Good question! I wish I knew, but unfortunately this is outside the scope of my knowledge. Someone on !privacyguides@lemmy.one could probably tell you immediately