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I agree about being mindful about using services of US companies, possibly preferring alternatives, however using a Chinese or a Russian alternative instead is

I agree about being mindful about using services of US companies, possibly preferring alternatives, however using a Chinese or a Russian alternative instead is just plain stupid. Two reasons: 1. The US is a functional democracy, with a bill of rights and privacy laws which aren’t perfect, but exist; California even has its own version of the GDPR 2. They have strong trade agreements with the EU and if you’re an EU citizen this matters, as companies found to violate the GDPR will get screwed; GDPR which also makes the export of data very complicated, so US companies are increasingly keeping EU data on EU servers Speaking as an EU citizen, the NSA is not my enemy. But companies like Facebook are. So for me a company like DuckDuckGo is still acceptable because without privacy, they offer nothing of interest, so they won’t do anything to jeopardize their reputation. Speaking of which, DuckDuckGo can exist in the US, but not in China or in Russia, both being jurisdictions that are ... challenging, to say the least. If you insist on not using US services, then the only alternatives worth looking at are in Europe, because we have strong privacy laws and we aren’t being led by dictators. And you’d better not look at a “five eyes country” ;-) Here’s one: https://www.qwant.com/ https://www.qwant.com/

webmobdev 8y ago
> however using a Chinese or a Russian alternative instead is just plain stupid. No, it is not. By using non-american alternatives, you ensure fragmentation of your personal data, thus making it harder to build a better / more accurate profile of you. Moreover, I personally don't like the fact that using DuckDuckGo still helps the other major search engines - they still get data from DDG that helps them improve their search engine, thus contributing to their monopoly. > The US is a functional democracy ... Good for the Americans, then. Not for us who live elsewhere. The US government and courts have repeatedly applied different legal yardsticks when it comes to a citizen vis a foreigner. > as companies found to violate the GDPR will get screwed; GDPR which also makes the export of data very complicated, so US companies are increasingly keeping EU data on EU servers I don't see why you think this doesn't apply to Chinese / Russian businesses too. Ultimately if they want to do business in EU or elsewhere, they will have to follow the law of the land. Right? > Speaking as an EU citizen, the NSA is not my enemy. I disagree. The Five Eyes spying program is designed to indirectly spy on the citizens of their country using each others government agency, and sharing that data. > Speaking of which, DuckDuckGo can exist in the US, but not in China or in Russia, And this brings another important aspect on this debate - we shouldn't be trusting private companies to protect our privacy rights and instead should be pressurizing our own government to legislate laws on this. Most Americans somehow seem to naively believe that Apple and DuckDuckGo (for example) are working more to protecting your privacy, whereas all they are doing is slowly trying to gain your trust to get you to share more data with them. And ultimately, like Google betrayed all of us and went fully "evil", so will Apple and DuckDuckGo. (And notice that they have already started being more invasive).

webmobdev 8y ago

> however using a Chinese or a Russian alternative instead is just plain stupid. No, it is not. By using non-american alternatives, you ensure fragmentation of your personal data, thus making it harder to build a better / more accurate profile of you. Moreover, I personally don't like the fact that using DuckDuckGo still helps the other major search engines - they still get data from DDG that helps them improve their search engine, thus contributing to their monopoly. > The US is a functional democracy ... Good for the Americans, then. Not for us who live elsewhere. The US government and courts have repeatedly applied different legal yardsticks when it comes to a citizen vis a foreigner. > as companies found to violate the GDPR will get screwed; GDPR which also makes the export of data very complicated, so US companies are increasingly keeping EU data on EU servers I don't see why you think this doesn't apply to Chinese / Russian businesses too. Ultimately if they want to do business in EU or elsewhere, they will have to follow the law of the land. Right? > Speaking as an EU citizen, the NSA is not my enemy. I disagree. The Five Eyes spying program is designed to indirectly spy on the citizens of their country using each others government agency, and sharing that data. > Speaking of which, DuckDuckGo can exist in the US, but not in China or in Russia, And this brings another important aspect on this debate - we shouldn't be trusting private companies to protect our privacy rights and instead should be pressurizing our own government to legislate laws on this. Most Americans somehow seem to naively believe that Apple and DuckDuckGo (for example) are working more to protecting your privacy, whereas all they are doing is slowly trying to gain your trust to get you to share more data with them. And ultimately, like Google betrayed all of us and went fully "evil", so will Apple and DuckDuckGo. (And notice that they have already started being more invasive).