this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
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What do you mean? That you have an account so your searches are "linked" to you?
Exactly
Well luckily for you, they don't do that. It doesn't maintain a search history at all which has its pros and cons. The only reason you have to login to use it is to check your payment level to determine your feature access. It is nice that login also allows you to use the same settings for multiple devices. One of those settings I really like is hiding results from certain websites (e.g. pinterest).
Sounds ideal, but there's no way we can ever truly know, is there?
You can never truly know about almost any online service, you kinda just have to take their word for it, do some research, and pick the option that best matches both the performance and philosophy you're looking for.
Yup, same reason I don't do VPN services. This is actually a perfect example of my concerns:
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58476983
If privacy is your goal, Mullvad is the answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullvad
They have been targeted by law enforcement and haven't given anything because they don't have anything to give.
They don't even have user accounts, you just have an account number and you can buy more credits even by mailing cash to them if you're really gung-ho about being private. I usually just use my excess Bitcoin to top up when I need to use it (they give a 10% discount for blockchain purchases)
But if you need to get past geolocking or have huge download speeds for pirating, then they're not what you're looking for. I use Mullvad on my mobile router so every time I log in at a hotel or similar, all of my devices are behind VPN automatically
Further reading for those who don't have a tinfoil hat yet
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavabit
Here's the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:
Lavabit is an open-source encrypted webmail service, founded in 2004. The service suspended its operations on August 8, 2013 after the U. S. Federal Government ordered it to turn over its Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) private keys, in order to allow the government to spy on Edward Snowden's email. Lavabit's owner and operator, Ladar Levison, announced on January 20, 2017 that Lavabit would start operating again, using the new Dark Internet Mail Environment (DIME), which is an end-to-end email encryption platform designed to be more surveillance-resistant.
^to^ ^opt^ ^out^^,^ ^pm^ ^me^ ^'optout'.^ ^article^ ^|^ ^about^
I think they mean the fact they count each search you do, and depending on your pricing plan, can run out of searches in a month..