5 ms·

I was under the impression that a !g search was somehow anonymized. Was that just wishful thinking?

scrooched_moose 7y ago
Not from my reading of the site I linked: Remember, though, because your search is actually taking place on that other site, you are subject to that site’s policies, including its data collection practices. It's possible the strip some information in the transfer but not everything?
danskeren 7y ago
Definitely wishful thinking, use !s instead. The bang shortcuts just take you to the other websites.. sure, you gain a few things, like Google not knowing what you typed to arrive at the final search, typing speed, etc. but DDG can’t really do anything to protect your privacy once you’ve ended up at google.com.
buzzerbetrayed 7y ago
It surprises me how many people think this. I'm not sure where it comes from. All it does is redirect you to Google. So `!g hello world` just redirects to `https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hello%20world` https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hello%20world` I'm can't see how that could possibly be more anonymized then just going to google.com yourself.
- lucb1e 7y ago
  > I'm not sure where it comes from I guess because it makes zero sense the way it is. What's the point? Might as well have gone to Google directly. And what DDG user would ever want to be redirected to Google? They're using DDG for a reason (and for 99%, it isn't the search engine quality). It just makes no sense. > I'm [sic] can't see how that could possibly be more anonymized then [sic] just going to google.com yourself. DDG could proxy the traffic the way startpage does.
  - danskeren 7y ago
    > I guess because it makes zero sense the way it is. What's the point? There are over 10.000 different bang shortcuts. They’re very valuable for several reasons, especially if you make DDG your default search engine. “Denmark !w” will take you to Denmark’s Wikipedia page, saving you the time and bandwidth it would take to click on the link through the DDG/Google result. Similarly, you can search “hello !gtda”; and sure, for short translation queries then you could also just type “hello danish” in Google, but try doing that with an entire paragraph. You could also search “duckduckgo !gandi” to see available duckduckgo domains on Gandi (or whichever domain registrar you prefer). > And what DDG user would ever want to be redirected to Google? They're using DDG for a reason (and for 99%, it isn't the search engine quality). It just makes no sense. DDG users aren’t (or at least they shouldn’t) append !g to all their searches.. it should only be used as a last resort (and even then they should still be using !s instead of !g). DDG’s primary selling point is privacy, but even if they were just as evil as Google (and there were no other privacy-friendly alternative available) then I’d still be using DDG as my default search engine thanks to the bang shortcuts. > DDG could proxy the traffic the way startpage does. That would defeat the purpose of the bang shortcuts, which is to take you to the search results on other sites. Besides, they already offer this through !s.
nvrspyx 7y ago
It's just a redirect, unfortunately. It simply formats your search to a Google URL query string and redirects you there meaning that it's the same thing as typing it into Google and hitting search. Startpage would be the better option since it uses Google's search anonymously as DDG does for Bing/Oath. You can use !s for Startpage instead of !g for Google. Same results (minus personalized results) as Google, but with the privacy you're looking for.
vanadium 7y ago
To directly answer your question, !g _used_ to take you to encrypted.google.com, but Google eliminated it and now it takes you to the general search results page. Use !s for Startpage instead; it proxies google's results.
lucb1e 7y ago
I had the same expectation of them proxying my query. Imagine my surprise when I first tried that oft-mentioned feature and landed on the great tracker.

Not from my reading of the site I linked: Remember, though, because your search is actually taking place on that other site, you are subject to that site’s policies, including its data collection practices. It's possible the strip some information in the transfer but not everything?

danskeren 7y ago

Definitely wishful thinking, use !s instead. The bang shortcuts just take you to the other websites.. sure, you gain a few things, like Google not knowing what you typed to arrive at the final search, typing speed, etc. but DDG can’t really do anything to protect your privacy once you’ve ended up at google.com.

buzzerbetrayed 7y ago

It surprises me how many people think this. I'm not sure where it comes from. All it does is redirect you to Google. So `!g hello world` just redirects to `https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hello%20world` https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hello%20world` I'm can't see how that could possibly be more anonymized then just going to google.com yourself.

lucb1e 7y ago
> I'm not sure where it comes from I guess because it makes zero sense the way it is. What's the point? Might as well have gone to Google directly. And what DDG user would ever want to be redirected to Google? They're using DDG for a reason (and for 99%, it isn't the search engine quality). It just makes no sense. > I'm [sic] can't see how that could possibly be more anonymized then [sic] just going to google.com yourself. DDG could proxy the traffic the way startpage does.
- danskeren 7y ago
  > I guess because it makes zero sense the way it is. What's the point? There are over 10.000 different bang shortcuts. They’re very valuable for several reasons, especially if you make DDG your default search engine. “Denmark !w” will take you to Denmark’s Wikipedia page, saving you the time and bandwidth it would take to click on the link through the DDG/Google result. Similarly, you can search “hello !gtda”; and sure, for short translation queries then you could also just type “hello danish” in Google, but try doing that with an entire paragraph. You could also search “duckduckgo !gandi” to see available duckduckgo domains on Gandi (or whichever domain registrar you prefer). > And what DDG user would ever want to be redirected to Google? They're using DDG for a reason (and for 99%, it isn't the search engine quality). It just makes no sense. DDG users aren’t (or at least they shouldn’t) append !g to all their searches.. it should only be used as a last resort (and even then they should still be using !s instead of !g). DDG’s primary selling point is privacy, but even if they were just as evil as Google (and there were no other privacy-friendly alternative available) then I’d still be using DDG as my default search engine thanks to the bang shortcuts. > DDG could proxy the traffic the way startpage does. That would defeat the purpose of the bang shortcuts, which is to take you to the search results on other sites. Besides, they already offer this through !s.

nvrspyx 7y ago

It's just a redirect, unfortunately. It simply formats your search to a Google URL query string and redirects you there meaning that it's the same thing as typing it into Google and hitting search. Startpage would be the better option since it uses Google's search anonymously as DDG does for Bing/Oath. You can use !s for Startpage instead of !g for Google. Same results (minus personalized results) as Google, but with the privacy you're looking for.

vanadium 7y ago

To directly answer your question, !g _used_ to take you to encrypted.google.com, but Google eliminated it and now it takes you to the general search results page. Use !s for Startpage instead; it proxies google's results.

lucb1e 7y ago

I had the same expectation of them proxying my query. Imagine my surprise when I first tried that oft-mentioned feature and landed on the great tracker.