Because I don’t want a direct link to payment information and my search history stored and sold later.

Defaults are working fine, I might have added one or two.

Not if it runs the queries it sends out via a VPN where it mingles with thousands of other requests. An API call doesn’t have the disadvantages of browser fingerprinting, cookies, etc that are used to build a background of a user browsing to your search engine and track their searches. Also, there is no feedback to the search engine about which result you choose to use. If you allow outside users, it would further muddy the waters.

Ideally, you’d have it run random searches when not being used to further obfuscate the source.

Yes, that’s the purpose of the VPN. It’s out there mixed in with everyone else that’s using that exit node.

Honestly, it’s not too much of a concern to me, I’m not doing anything illegal or naughty, it’s just making sure I’m not part of the dataset.

Its all calls to other engines, that you can choose and tune. So its making those calls and filtering out shit like AI results, and then ranking it to return back to you. Seems to do a good job.

Self host it, it’s nothing to set up.

Been rocking self-hosted Searxng for the last 3 weeks now as my default search engine; it’s as good or better than DDG and certainly better than Google. Results I need are usually within the first three items, no extraneous shit.

I thought I’d just try it out, but it’s staying. The ability to tune the background engines is awesome. My search history is private (though I wasn’t that worried about DDG, there was no way in fuck I was using Kagi) since it’s running it’s searches via a VPN and returning me results locally.

Well, Larry obviously.

Coincidentally, Larry will not be under surveillance.

Yah, but the UK has been an Orwellian nightmare since Maggie’s day. Everyone expects laws that completely negate privacy there and just roll over for it.

I’m good with a project that’s concentrating on privacy being run by a paranoid fuck. If he’s pouring all his lunacy into making it as locked down as possible, seems like a good thing to me.

I particularly like the recent duress PIN code upgrade. Seems like something every OS should have in it. I don’t need some cops fucking around with my social media and banking info because I got stopped for jaywalking.

And Edge is as open as a middle aged French whore, so you have to know it’s a technical issue.

Piped. Trust me.

Insurers get hold of it and disqualify you for health, life and disability insurance based on genetic markers.

Antennapod on Android and Kasts on Linux, synced via Gpoddersync on Nextcloud.

Yah, let’s make sure to shit on the company making the only browser that even tries to preserve user privacy because the company does 1% of the shitty things Google does.

If we try hard enough, they might succumb to the constant attacks from Microsoft, Google and Apple and we’ll be left with the browser engine we deserve.

A massive and punitive fine for anyone gathering biometric data without express permssion would be a great way to discourage other companies from bringing that shit around. A billion or two ought to do it.

I don’t need my search history linked to my payment data for future enshittification. At least Google (and DDG or whatever) is guessing and I can make that harder with a proper browser.

To police, that’s a feature, not a bug.

Well, wired as there’s a couple pieces of heavy wire binding the corn straw to the handle.

PXE boot will TFTP the boot image into RAM and carry on from there. You shouldn’t need any storage on your device.

Leave us nerds an opening. The 99% that can’t figure out how to put in an adblocker should be able to cover us nicely.

I can’t fathom why they insist on sticking with this. It’s so obviously a de-anonymization technique, which is completely at odds with the rest of their stated goals. I haven’t made a Signal account for exactly this reason.