Search Engine issues

So, Google has now added a new feature.

Originally in the dim and distant past, Google was a search engine.  Then it started collecting details from users’ searches and serving ads. It could charge more based on these details. So it bought other sites, like youtube, and then tried to make users put everything under one sign-in, which creates ad profiles which can be sold for even more money.

And in the last few days the inevitable happened. If you don’t have a google account and don’t give them permission to track you, good luck using their search engine.

  Over the last few days I’ve been through this a few too many times.

Let my summarise it:

• Click next
• Get told that it will take your data, so click Other options
• Click edit settings under search customisation and turn search off
• Click edit settings under ad preferences and get a 302 error.
• Click edit settings under youtube and turn off.
• Click edit settings under Privacy and get asked to download Googles code. Non, no, no.
• click back.
• Get told that you still have to agree to let it track you to get to the search screen.

The really good thing, of course, is that after turning all this off I went to youtube. You know google claims that its default settings are child safe, and if you see porn its your fault? Nope. With history on I see tech demos and science vids. With history off I get lots of half-naked women. Unless they’re bio-roids with spec info, I’m really not interested.

But what can you do?

Oh yeah, you can

• Use duckduckgo.com to get a google search without giving google your data.
• Use altavista
• Use yahoo.com

Because seriously, given the poor quality of google’s recent search results (and before this screen came up I was averaging one report a day under their feedback of just how inaccurate their results were, and then having to go to duckduckgo anyway) and don;t see any reason to pay them for poor performance.

---

This blog has now moved to http://www.rablogs.co.uk/tirial, where the original article can be found.  Search Engine issues - http://rablogs.co.uk/tirial/2015/10/20/search-engine-issues/ was published on October 20, 2015 at 9:46 am.