Re: [gentoo-user] Google privacy changes

[Florian Philipp]

Am 26.01.2012 11:07, schrieb Mick:
> On Thursday 26 Jan 2012 08:48:28 Michael Mathurin wrote:
>> Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com> writes:
>>> Hi list,
>>>
>>> I ran across this news item about Google:
>>>
>>> http://alturl.com/s7xi5
>>>
>>> The long URL is below.  I'm sort of getting to where I don't like Google
>>> since they seem to be doing things that I'm just not comfy with.  Next
>>> they will want a camera on my rig so they can watch me surf.  I found a
>>> search engine that may work.  It is here:
>>>
>>> www.ixquick.com
>>>
>>> Does anyone have a better search tool?  I don't like Yahoo either.  I do
>>> like froogle so that would be a bonus.  You know, shopping tool.
>>>
>>> Now to my next issue.  I'm thinking about switching emails too.  Yea,
>>> everyone on here knows my addy but I bet most can recognize my posts
>>> anyway. Plus, if the init thingy goes south, well, it happens.  Anyway,
>>> what is a nice stable email account server that allows pop access,
>>> Seamonkey as the email program, that is not tracking everything or nosey
>>> as heck?  Free would be nice but I would pay something inexpensive on a
>>> yearly basis if it is really good.  I think Yahoo has this but ain't
>>> they sort of like Google already?  Plus, I'm not sure how much longer
>>> Yahoo is going to last or make similar changes itself.  I'm sort of
>>> getting tired of switching emails every time I switch ISPs or there is a
>>> policy change.  That is why I switched to gmail in the first place.  No
>>> matter what ISP I use, I can still use Gmail.  Yet, here I am again.
>>>
>>> Thoughts?  Suggestions?
>>>
>>> Dale
>>>
>>> :-)  :-)
>>>
>>> Long URL just in case the shorty above doesn't work.  It may be broken
>>> tho.   Copy and paste alert.
>>>
>>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/google-tracks-consumers
>>> -across-products-users-cant-opt-out/2012/01/24/gIQArgJHOQ_story.html?wpis
>>> rc=al_comboNE_b
>>
>> For an alternative search engine you should have a look at DuckDuckGo
>> I've used it in the past and it has a pretty impressive set of
>> features. As for e-mail I've heard good things about FastMail. Hushmail
>> used to be a good one but I'm not sure how they stand today.
>
> I've used Fastmail for years and is a very reliable email provider.  It does
> not have the storage allowance of Gmail on its free account, so space will run
> out unless you start deleting messages.  Also, unless you pay you are only
> allowed to access messages via webmail and IMAP4, not POP3.  There are options
> for webmail scrapers or archiving of messages via mail clients, but Fastmail
> is not Google in terms of access options and features.

+1 for Fastmail. I guess the "add free" service for 5 bucks per year
would be sufficient for Dale as he doesn't need much online space when
he uses POP3, anyway.

>
> BTW, it seems to me that if you access youtube and at the same time search
> Google without being logged in to any of their portals, they will not be
> tracking your email for user profiling purposes.  They may be logging IP
> addresses but it could be different users on the same IP address, so
> advertising results would not be relevant.
>
> Delete flash and normal cookies, do not log in to any Google sites and you
> should be as good with their tracking of your habits as you always were.
>

This made me thinking: Does anyone out there use different browsers for
different services? Like using Chrome only for GMail, Youtube and G+,
Opera for Facebook and Firefox for normal browsing?

I guess you could achieve the same using different user profiles. For
example `firefox --no-remote -P google` and `firefox --no-remote -P
default`.

Regards,
Florian Philipp