Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

Destry · 2021-06-25 09:35:51

I’m using FF with Invidition (auto twitter and youtube link replacement), uMatrix, UBlock Origin, and Privacy Badger extensions. I don’t know if that’s the best one can do, but it makes me feel a little better by all the shit they block and keep out of my sight. They all seem to work good together. I was using Self-Destructing Cookies, too, but it was sometimes annoying to have to re-log into sites I trusted every time (like here).

I know FF isn’t perfect, but I really don’t feel comfortable with any other browser for regular use. I’ve tried to like Tor Onion browser, but it’s just so slow, and half the websites on the web don’t work with it if you have the highest protections running, so what’s the point.

Firefox just seems to be the best compromise in a web where most every site relies on user accounts and advertising money—thus the need/desire to track you—and now even admit/reveal in detail how they do it (e.g. NYT), thanks to GDPR requirements, and makes near impossible hoops to jump through. E.g. passing the buck to advertiser gauntlets when wanting to opt out of being tracked by them—the ‘partners’—or making you have to uncheck each advertiser name (instead of an easy ‘uncheck all’ box) for a thousand partner blood suckers.

The best way do deal with most of the internet is simply not use it as much as possible and promote your own non-tracking websites that give visitors a better experience and more respect. There are a lot of people trying to do this, but they’re still just a small fringe compared to the masses of Facebook sheeple. It takes people willing to forego trying to make passive money from big tech advertising and affiliation scams.

Oh, out of nowhere… you know the kind of species that really makes me sick these days. Influencers. French society seems to love these people, or at least Paris. I fookin’ hate them and their ecosystems, and I don’t even follow any. Just the word and idea makes me boil. Social media bred that sludge. Sometimes I wish the big meteor would get here and hit dead center in silly con valley.

But I suppose we’re doing it to ourselves, and everything else, fast enough.

bici · 2021-06-26 00:01:17

Millions Choose Simple Privacy Protection with DuckDuckGo

and it is growing

phiw13 · 2021-07-14 08:02:26

The battles about ~~sweet~~ cookies: privacy wars. DNT redux, but amplified multiple times.

(IOW that content blocker – trackers and ads – isn’t going away anytime soon)

colak · 2021-07-14 09:25:40

Thanks for sharing that. I feel like that a whole generation of silicon valley (inspired) companies viewed the Black Mirror cautionary tales and are now regurgitating it back at us undigested.

Excuse the shameless, but related to this thread, promotion of our latest videos regarding the precarious work offered by online companies. The French speakers amongst us may recognise Antonio Casilli’s name who frequently contributes to Place de la Toile.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg8kx0E5hQm6EqiWuSpcxhNjligud-1Vz

Destry · 2022-05-31 08:12:16

zero wrote #329143:

I saw this article on my social media which gives step by step details on how to set up the Searx search engine on Linux. You would need self-hosting or full access to the server but the author links to his own and a list of other publicly available versions ready to use.

Searx is what I have switched to. I don’t really care about depth of reach, as so many people are quick to point out in defense of Google search, for example. All I need is info, and if I can get it via searx, it worx. :)

It’s now available in FF preferences as an option.

I made the switch off DDG, pretty much for this reason. I don’t dislike DDG, and maybe it will get better in the future, but searx’s About page is speaking to me.

phiw13 · 2022-05-31 08:31:47

Destry wrote #333465:

Searx is what I have switched to. […]

Yeah, for the same and some more reasons a while ago I have added it to my list in the xSearch extension for Safari (customise search + shortcuts). The results are quite decent (certainly not worse that others). I just wish their layout was not stuck in that unreadable dark-mode with small text.

jakob · 2022-05-31 18:14:50

phiw13 wrote #333467:

The results are quite decent (certainly not worse that others). I just wish their layout was not stuck in that unreadable dark-mode with small text.

Thanks for the pointer. I haven’t seen that one before. I’m guessing you’re aware of the settings under “Theme” and “Style” in the preferences at the top right of the window. Pointhi is a bit clearer than logicodev but it looks like it can be quite comprehensively modified: see, for example, the instance at https://searx.priv.pw.

phiw13 · 2022-06-01 00:53:03

jakob wrote #333477:

Thanks for the pointer. I haven’t seen that one before. I’m guessing you’re aware of the settings under “Theme” and “Style” in the preferences at the top right of the window. Pointhi is a bit clearer than logicodev but it looks like it can be quite comprehensively modified: see, for example, the instance at https://searx.priv.pw.

Ah, thank you for that preference setting. Honestly had not seen it… :-(. Pointhi theme is indeed a huge improvement. Add a bit of browser zoom to get a reasonable font-size to polish.

BTW – fun? As a test for the theme, I searched for “Tetxpattern”. In the side bar, the result page shows:

Engines cannot retrieve results:
soundcloud (HTTP error), btdigg (too many requests), microsoft academic (unexpected crash), crossref (timeout), digg (HTTP error), hoogle (unexpected crash), torrentz (unexpected crash), ccengine (unexpected crash).

Destry · 2022-06-01 07:45:41

Sorting the rice from the buckwheat…

There is searx.org (about), which I suppose was the original project. I had a search add-on, it must have been old, that pointed to searx.me, but that now just loads up a white hole.

I find two (at least) add-ons in FF:

One, search searx (using the original searx logo—devil-horned magnifying glass), is by an independent dev and the search link points to the instance https://searx.thegpm.org. That addon does not seem to be very popular.

The other is searXNG, using just a regular blue magnifying glass, which points to https://searx.be. It seems searXNG is a fork of searx, and seemingly more popular. It boasts a number of differences (link doesn’t work, need to scroll down page). SearXNG has a list of instances at searx.space. As mentioned, it seems to use the searx.be instance.

So it’s like tools in the fediverse, I guess. ‘Searx’ (or ‘searXNG’) is the software, but anyone can run an instance of it on their own server and make it public accessible. The specific URLs are relative.

I guess I’ll be using the searXNG add-on for the time being.

Last edited by Destry (2022-06-01 07:56:05)

phiw13 · 2022-06-01 11:45:03

I am not sure what you are after, but given that searx.org uses “Open Search” you can simply add it directly to the list of search engines in Firefox:

go to searx.org
right click / control click in the address bar or search bar. the search-engine should be list in the context menu (screenshot )
select

The search engine is now available and you can set as default.

Destry · 2022-06-01 11:58:07

Thanks. I did not realize it was so easy. I have deleted the needless add-ons and have added searx.org and searx.be (searXNG) for comparison.

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#106 2021-06-25 09:35:51

Re: Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

#107 2021-06-26 00:01:17

Re: Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

#108 2021-07-14 08:02:26

Re: Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

#109 2021-07-14 09:25:40

Re: Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

#110 2022-05-31 08:12:16

Re: Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

zero wrote #329143:

#111 2022-05-31 08:31:47

Re: Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

Destry wrote #333465:

#112 2022-05-31 18:14:50

Re: Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

phiw13 wrote #333467:

#113 2022-06-01 00:53:03

Re: Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

jakob wrote #333477:

#114 2022-06-01 07:45:41

Re: Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

#115 2022-06-01 11:45:03

Re: Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

#116 2022-06-01 11:58:07

Re: Fook Google and its fookin' sheet

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