Facebook, Likes, Ads...

Out of curiosity, I downloaded my Facebook archive today. Some of it was mildly interesting -- such as the list of friends I’ve deleted.

What I found most amusing, however, was this:

Tracking my ‘Ads Topics’ on Facebook

Facebook doesn’t track your Likes. They track your Ads Topics.

It’s always been obvious that Likes are a mechanism for showing you ads. But it’s still funny to see it explicitly labelled this way, without any pretense. [To clarify -- the list is every Page you’ve Liked, not every liked item]

(It doesn’t seem to be particularly effective, unfortunately -- to date according to my archive I’ve only clicked on one ad so far...)

I also found the reminder that Facebook can track facial recognition data (for users outside of the E.U.) a little disquieting.

Um, ‘Like’ this post?

Also relevant

Instagram (Facebook) says it now has the right to sell your photos
Stop Facebook from Tracking You, with Disconnect
How to Opt-Out of LinkedIn Social Ads

Why I Switched My Search Engine to DuckDuckGo...

DuckDuckGo: Clean, simple search

Eight months ago, I decided to switch my default search engine away from Google, and to instead try an alternate service.

After some deliberation, I chose DuckDuckGo. What has it been like? Is it worth switching?

Why I Switched

For some time, the purity of Google’s search has been violated and diluted, due to the Filter Bubble effect. This commercial explains what I mean:


[LINK]

I guess I’m not really comfortable with the idea of Google amassing a silent log of my search history, either. I’m a regular Google services user (Gmail, Reader, Photos/Picasa, Blogger, and even Google+, rarely), so granted it’s ridiculous for me to assume this stance -- I’ve already handed over a boatload of personal information to Google. They own my online profile.

Nevertheless, I made the switch (including changing the default search in my browser preferences) and would like to report on the experience.

What it’s like using DuckDuckGo

I’d say overall it’s... tolerable.

The results are clean, and simple, and... usually what I’m looking for. Let’s say 75% of the time. The other 25% I will perform the query again, using the !g command to see what Google has to say. (DuckDuckGo supports a powerful and nerdy ‘bang’ command that can be used to query specific sources, like Wikipedia, Amazon, YouTube, and, yes, Google.). [the !g initiates an encrypted Google search, by the way, which prevents snooping by third parties, so it’s still better than a ‘naked’ Google search]

That sounds annoying but actually, I find that comparing the two result sets can be instructive -- and Google doesn’t necessarily always find the right stuff. There are times when DuckDuckGo fails to provide good answers for recent items (news-related for example), but I get the feeling it’s been improving gradually...

So am I going to switch back to Google? Nope.

Here is some additional DuckDuckGo propaganda that explains why it’s a great candidate for your default search engine:

[LINK]

Less clutter, user privacy, and non-filtered results. That’s why I’ve switched to DuckDuckGo.

Try it out, you might like it too!

DuckDuckGo is now my default search engine. Seriously!

DuckDuckGo - a better search engine?

It sounds funny to admit this, but I’m excited about a new search engine.

It’s called DuckDuckGo, and it recently had its first day handling over a million searches.

I think that’s pretty awesome. Most people would say that there isn’t any room left for innovation in search, with Google long ago having achieved dominance in the marketplace (The last nascent search engine that garnered media attention, Cuil, was an abject failure).

But DuckDuckGo has two key advantages -- from a user perspective -- over Google. The whole premise of the upstart is that it won’t track or bubble you.

In other words, DuckDuckGo takes privacy seriously, and they don’t attempt to personalize your search based on history or other identifiers -- the whole concept of Eli Pariser’s Filter Bubble Problem.

It’s a clean, simple, impartial search (kind of a hybrid based on search APIs from major sites like Yahoo, Wolfram|Alpha, and Bing) that has been filtered for SEO spam and is private -- it won’t send your searches or computer profile to third parties as Google does. Not to mention it’s improving all the time feature-wise.

Gabriel Weinberg,
DuckDuckGo’s motive force

And yes, it’s legit -- with coverage in WIRED, Time, and other major publications.

Put together by Gabriel Weinberg, the site also features many cool and powerful techie shortcuts that let you rapidly search specific sites, or using other engines -- for example, you can type !w to search Wikipedia -- along with many other goodies.

There are some drawbacks, as numerous observers have noted. DuckDuckGo can be a bit weak on the following:

• Searches where there’s a recency element
• foreign language searches
• speed
• it has a silly name

I like the fact that results are fairly uncluttered. You may not realize it -- until you try something else -- but Google searches have become a wasteland of distraction and advertising. Google’s inescapable new privacy policy allowing them to link together and share what you do across all their sites is another factor for consideration.

Hopefully, DuckDuckGo will prod Google to improve their own approach. Fred Wilson (the noted venture capitalist and an investor in DDG) puts it like this: “Best case, DDG is to Google what Firefox was to IE.”

Bottom line, I’ve decided to live with DuckDuckGo for a while, as my default search engine. We’ll see how that goes!

Check it out -- DuckDuckGo (You can also use ddg.gg for less typing)!

See Also...
Eli Pariser's Filter Bubble Problem
Gabriel Weinberg discusses the premises behind DuckDuckGo
Stop Facebook from tracking you, with Disconnect
How to Opt-Out from LinkedIn Social Ads


Spread the word about DuckDuckGo -- please share this post.

Stop Facebook from tracking you, with Disconnect

I've been using a superb new online privacy oriented Chrome extension called Disconnect. It stops 3rd parties and search engines from tracking what you do and what you search for.

Spurred by the unmitigated spread of Facebook Connect, Google engineer Brian Kennish wrote the open source extension to give users greater control over their online privacy. Kennish observes: If you’re a typical web user, you’re unintentionally sending your browsing and search history with your name and other personal information to third parties and search engines whenever you’re online.

I have found using the extension to be quite enlightening and educational, as it informs you how many requests are being blocked at any given website.

In the following example, I'm browsing the homepage for The Globe and Mail (a major Canadian newspaper), and I can see that 6 tracking requests have been blocked--2 from Facebook, and 4 from Google.

Why should Facebook know what news articles I'm reading?

Personally, I'm not entirely comfortable with the fact that Facebook and Google are trying to track what news articles I'm reading. How do you feel about it? It's... somewhat insidious, don't you think? In the above example, I'm not even logged in to the respective services.

The extension also allows you to depersonalize your searches--in other words, your search history cannot be simply connected to you. The other functional aspect that is very useful about Disconnect, is that I can easily toggle the blocking for specific services (for example, if I need to temporarily log in to a site that uses Facebook Connect).

I recommend giving the extension a try--even just for informational purposes. You may be surprised--even shocked--to learn which major services are trying to track you, on what sites (The scary confirmation dialog that pops up when you install Disconnect is particularly ironic -- it warns you that the extension can access your data on all websites). You will realize that your internet behavior has become a commodity that is being sold. If you're not a Chrome user (and why aren't you?), take heart--Kennish plans to release Disconnect for Firefox next year.

Judicious use of extensions like Disconnect, along with prudent cookie management, allow you--for the time being--to exert a degree of control over who is watching you, and what they track. As Kennish declares, "They can't take our data without our permission anymore."