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Ecosia - the 'new' duck duck go?
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Ecosia - the 'new' duck duck go?

ArkasArkas Moderator
edited August 2022 in News

Here's a search engine that does NOT track anything, just set it in your preferences. It is based on Bing, but hides the searches and is completely private. It is customizable and definitely worth a look into.
ecosia.org

And a nice video with explanations for each major search engine.

Comments

  • Duck claimed the same but was later found out they do share info if I remember correctly?

    https://9to5mac.com/2022/05/25/duckduckgo-privacy-microsoft-permission-tracking/

  • ArkasArkas Moderator

    @drizbo said: Duck claimed the same but was later found out they do share info if I remember correctly?

    Yes, with MS

  • vyas11vyas11 Member
    edited August 2022

    Bing knows it was probably you who Searched for “Manga Drag queens in Stockholm” from your iOs device in UK that uses Orange network.

    For example, when you do a search on Ecosia we forward the following information to our partner, Bing: IP address (obfuscated), user agent string, search term, and some settings like your country and language setting.

    https://info.ecosia.org/privacy

    Had reached out to these guys in early 2018 when I consulted with a sustainability organisation. Very weird folks to communicate with.

    Thanked by 1netomx
  • NeoonNeoon Community Contributor, Veteran

    @vyas11 said:

    For example, when you do a search on Ecosia we forward the following information to our partner, Bing: IP address (obfuscated), user agent string, search term, and some settings like your country and language setting.

    Why does the Page then says, we don't sell your data to advertising partners?
    Bing surely would take the data for free, but I don't think they give it to them for free.

  • @Neoon said: Why does the Page then says, we don't sell your data to advertising partners?

    Bing isn't an advertising partner, and sending data to their API doesn't constitute selling data.

  • NeoonNeoon Community Contributor, Veteran

    @Daniel15 said:

    @Neoon said: Why does the Page then says, we don't sell your data to advertising partners?

    Bing isn't an advertising partner, and sending data to their API doesn't constitute selling data.

    I call bs.

  • vyas11vyas11 Member
    edited August 2022

    Bing pays them one way or another

    https://ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/33-how-does-ecosia-make-money

    The ads we show come through the Microsoft Bing advertising network and are clearly labeled as ads. We earn a few cents for every ad click and put 100% of our profits towards climate action.

    Yup... 20 plus Mn Euros a year in ad revenue from Bing can be considered negligible in exchange

    also

  • VoidVoid Member

    It’s all fun and games until you turn on VPN before searching. Or did that change recently?

  • @vyas11 said:
    Bing pays them one way or another

    https://ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/33-how-does-ecosia-make-money

    The ads we show come through the Microsoft Bing advertising network and are clearly labeled as ads. We earn a few cents for every ad click and put 100% of our profits towards climate action.

    Oops, sorry, I didn't see that! I take back my "Bing isn't an advertising partner" comment. I think it's still accurate that they don't sell your data though. Simply running ads doesn't mean they sell your data.

  • vyas11vyas11 Member
    edited August 2022

    @Daniel15 said:

    @vyas11 said:
    Bing pays them one way or another

    https://ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/33-how-does-ecosia-make-money

    The ads we show come through the Microsoft Bing advertising network and are clearly labeled as ads. We earn a few cents for every ad click and put 100% of our profits towards climate action.

    Oops, sorry, I didn't see that! I take back my "Bing isn't an advertising partner" comment. I think it's still accurate that they don't sell your data though. Simply running ads doesn't mean they sell your data.

    The latter part might be true.
    They say they obfuscate data and share with Bing (my previous comment) and being a German company I believe they are more aware of GDPR than some others,
    But to play the Devil’s advocate
    Trade, barter, exchange information as per API TOS…. subject to interpretation considering tens of millions in ad revenue on the other side of the weighing balance

    Again from their site

    For example, when you do a search on Ecosia we forward the following information to our partner, Bing: IP address (obfuscated), user agent string, search term, and some settings like your country and language setting.

  • @Daniel15 said:

    @vyas11 said:
    Bing pays them one way or another

    https://ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/33-how-does-ecosia-make-money

    The ads we show come through the Microsoft Bing advertising network and are clearly labeled as ads. We earn a few cents for every ad click and put 100% of our profits towards climate action.

    Oops, sorry, I didn't see that! I take back my "Bing isn't an advertising partner" comment. I think it's still accurate that they don't sell your data though. Simply running ads doesn't mean they sell your data.

    Anyone with half a brain running ads is running retargeting. Good for the brand, but ultimately selling the data.

    You work at Meta man, you know this.

  • Daniel15Daniel15 Veteran
    edited August 2022

    @SirFoxy said:

    @Daniel15 said:

    @vyas11 said:
    Bing pays them one way or another

    https://ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/33-how-does-ecosia-make-money

    The ads we show come through the Microsoft Bing advertising network and are clearly labeled as ads. We earn a few cents for every ad click and put 100% of our profits towards climate action.

    Oops, sorry, I didn't see that! I take back my "Bing isn't an advertising partner" comment. I think it's still accurate that they don't sell your data though. Simply running ads doesn't mean they sell your data.

    Anyone with half a brain running ads is running retargeting. Good for the brand, but ultimately selling the data.

    Retargeting doesn't involve selling data. Data provided by the advertiser to the ad platform is used only for the purpose of running their own ads. The ad platform they use doesn't use the data for any other purpose, nor do they pay for the data. This is the case for both Google Adwords/DoubleClick and Meta, and probably for the other large platforms too.

    If the advertiser themselves want to sell their own data, that's on them, but generally their data gives them a competitive advantage over other companies in the same industry, so selling data like that is actually quite rare.

  • @Daniel15 said:

    @SirFoxy said:

    @Daniel15 said:

    @vyas11 said:
    Bing pays them one way or another

    https://ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/33-how-does-ecosia-make-money

    The ads we show come through the Microsoft Bing advertising network and are clearly labeled as ads. We earn a few cents for every ad click and put 100% of our profits towards climate action.

    Oops, sorry, I didn't see that! I take back my "Bing isn't an advertising partner" comment. I think it's still accurate that they don't sell your data though. Simply running ads doesn't mean they sell your data.

    Anyone with half a brain running ads is running retargeting. Good for the brand, but ultimately selling the data.

    Retargeting doesn't involve selling data. Data provided by the advertiser is used for the purpose of running their own ads. The ad platform they use doesn't use the data for any other purpose, nor do they pay for the data. This is the case for both Google Adwords/DoubleClick and Meta, and probably for the other large platforms too.

    If the advertiser themselves want to sell their data, that's on them, but generally their data gives them a competitive advantage over other companies in the same industry, so selling data like that is quite rare.

    "Data provided by the advertiser is used for the purpose of running their own ads. " from a marketer that's spent over $100,000 of my own money, and about $3,000,000 in others money in Facebook Ads -- do you actually believe that?

  • Daniel15Daniel15 Veteran
    edited August 2022

    @SirFoxy said: do you actually believe that?

    Absolutely. I don't mean to bring GDPR into this, but purpose limitation (using data only for its intended purpose) is one of the key parts of GDPR, and the major ad platforms are all GDPR-compliant and have terms that explicitly specify how retargeting data (eg customer list / website custom audiences, etc) are used. No big company is going to do anything that'd risk violating GDPR.

  • @Daniel15 said:

    @SirFoxy said: do you actually believe that?

    Absolutely. I don't mean to bring GDPR into this, but purpose limitation (using data only for its intended purpose) is one of the key parts of GDPR, and the major ad platforms are all GDPR-compliant and have terms that explicitly specify how retargeting data (eg customer list / website custom audiences, etc) are used. No big company is going to do anything that'd risk violating GDPR.

    Meta is an American company, Google Meta GDPR fine.

    I get the principle of don't shit where you eat but let's be honest.

  • dfroedfroe Member, Host Rep

    For those who prefer Google instead of Bing search engine, there is also startpage.com for private web search, with an explanation of their revenue model and according to their data flow no part of the IP address or any other personal data is shared with Google.

  • ArkasArkas Moderator

    @Neoon said: I call bs.

    They're tree huggers I meant tree planters, they can't be that bad :smile:

  • _MS__MS_ Member

    You can't win. Just use Google (Search).

  • Searx is enough for me, but for image search is very bad and nothing can't beat google images. :D

    Never tried startpage, cause I remember long ago there malware set search engine to startpage on my family pc :D

  • I've been using Ecosia for nearly a decade. I don't think it promises any privacy fortification like DuckDuckGo but I do like the idea of planting trees from my ad revenue. I've been keeping a track of their blog for years now and they really do seem to be planting trees around the world. Takes no effort from me to use them and in exchange they try to patch the world with trees. It's a win-win.

  • Anyone using presearch?

  • I like OP's video's second choice, Brave search. Not perfect, but generally good enough, just like Duck Duck Go used to be.

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