[tor-talk] Invaded by disconnect.me

[Mirimir]

On 06/01/2015 07:26 PM, Colin Arnott wrote:
> If there are issues with startpage, is there any reason not to use duckduckgo 
> as default? I use their hidden service as my default search engine and have 
> never had issues with them.

DuckDuckgo's search results are pretty much useless, a waste of time.
Startpage is a very good Google gateway, and the proxy option is cool.
But it was serving CAPTCHAs, maybe worse than Google's. Disconnect is
fast, with no CAPTCHAs, and provides protected access to Google Search
Tools, Images, Videos and News.

Also, as I've noted, Tor browser _does not_ have the Disconnect add-on
installed. So presumably it just hits https:/search.disconnect.me/
directly, and nothing critical is getting shared. I presume that this
has been explored carefully. Maybe someone can share about that.

> 1. Jun 2015 09:08 by spencerone at openmailbox.org:
> 
> 
>> Hi,
>>
>>> gary02121993:
>>> Oh man this sucks! Why isn't StartPage the default search engine anyway?
>>> Can someone link me the back story?
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>
>> You might find value in this:
>>
>> ----------------------------------
>>>>>> intrigeri:
>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>> we're in the process of upgrading Tor Browser to 4.5 in Tails, and
>>>>>> I noticed the migration to Disconnect Search as the default search
>>>>>> engine. That's the kind of changes that we often have to justify in
>>>>>> face of users and auditors, but I wasn't able to find the rationale
>>>>>> behind this decision on the corresponding ticket.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I see the release announcement says:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Disconnect provides private Google search results to Tor users
>>>>>> without Captchas or bans."
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Georg:
>>>>>
>>>>> Startpage was not happy with our traffic and showed sometimes
>>>>> CAPTCHAs. Disconnect on the other hand approached us with respect to
>>>>> search engine traffic and donated some money.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> intrigeri:
>>>> So, just to clarify: is that the entire rationale behind this move?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Georg:
>>> Yes, although the donated money does not really count here. That did not
>>> influence the decision but I figured it might be good to add this anyway
>>> for transparency reasons.
>>>
>> -----------------------------------
>>
>> Wordlife,
>> Spencer
>>