[tor-bugs] #4902 [Tor Browser]: Change the default search engine in TBB

Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki torproject-admin at torproject.org
Tue Feb 21 23:48:32 UTC 2012


#4902: Change the default search engine in TBB
-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
 Reporter:  phobos       |          Owner:  mikeperry   
     Type:  enhancement  |         Status:  needs_review
 Priority:  normal       |      Milestone:              
Component:  Tor Browser  |        Version:              
 Keywords:               |         Parent:              
   Points:               |   Actualpoints:              
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Comment(by mikeperry):

 Replying to [comment:19 m]:
 > The attachment for google.is does not actually search google.is
 > > <Url type="application/x-suggestions+json" method="GET"
 template="http://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?output=firefox&client=firefox&hl={moz:locale}&q={searchTerms}"/>
 </Url>

 We disable search suggest in TBB, but we should probably make this
 consistent anyways.

 > I strongly disagree with using google.ca or google.is. I sincerely doubt
 that Google cannot link a person logged in to googlemail.com to a search
 on google.ca or google.is by IP, browser fingerprinting and/ or other
 means. I object to adding google.is as default after so many postings pro
 DDG and against Google. And I would like to ask in what way Islandic law
 regulates Google?

 The choice of google.is over google.com is made primarily because of the
 design properties of Tor Browser that cause google.is to be isolated from
 google.com in terms of identifiers and fingerprinting.

 See:
 https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser/design/#identifier-
 linkability and
 https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser/design/#fingerprinting-
 linkability

 The high level design goals that drove these properties are here:
 https://www.torproject.org/torbutton/en/design/#requirements

 There are some edge cases that can still cause issues (see the
 "Implementation Status" sections), most notably top-level redirects.
 However, I intend to fix those issues in the 2.3.x series. If there are
 other issues you are aware of that aren't covered in that design document,
 please file a bug.

 As for who gets the default position, my current inclination is
 startpage.com because of Google-quality results without the captchas, all
 things being equal. I'm not sure we're ready to make a definitive decision
 between startpage and DDG yet, though.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/4902#comment:20>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
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