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In my experience, searching with DuckDuckGo or (shudder!) Google can yield faster and more accurate results than using the actual website.


Edit: Branch of threads detached from lens serial number and retitled.

The developer of EasyFind that is so often mentioned on FineTunedMac offers DEVONAgent Pro that actually executes on your Mac and has the most precise and informative searches. It even allows you to control how many levels the search will drill down in a search.

First, DEVONagent Pro is a $50 app...nuff said.

Any time I've compared DuckDuckGo results with Google results I've found Google's to be substantially more encompassing and satisfying of my search intent, nor, unless I'm missing something huge, do I understand your (and others'), aversion to Google.

I've got location services turned off, so the closest it can come to my actual location is a zip code away, where the local Verizon switching station is located.

And I NEVER log in to Google, so they've got no personally identifiable information about me, nor do I ever see any targeted ads...nothing worse than search results that take my IP address into account.

As for Google Analytics, I've read that "...while Google does collect IP addresses, Google doesn't provide that data to end users."

Bottom line as I see it, is that unless you've got a reason to feel insecure, following my model is as far as you need to go to get the best search results.

DEVONAgent Lite, which is included in DEVONAgent pro is FREE, but it does not provide as much discrimination or information.


and the list of found items is carefully ordered by how much the site payed Google for the position on the list.


They do not link your name per. se. but they do release enough data that your computer can be linked as a unique entity and from there your name, SSN, address, etc. are a simple look up.


Not so insecure as cautious.

This just in from EFF


NOTE: Arc does not support Privacy Sandbox

I kinda-sorta get the gist of the article as it relates to Chrome, but I don't see how, if at all, it relates to my referenced post.

In fact, the article states: "Other browsers, like Firefox and Safari, baked in privacy protections from third-party cookies in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Neither of those browsers has anything like Privacy Sandbox, which makes them better options if you'd prefer more privacy."

Aside: Why has Chrome, all of a sudden, apparently become everybody's go-to browser?

Following my (Republican) father's mantra, "If You've Done Nothing Wrong, You've Nothing To Worry About", I have fully embraced Google.

I have three gmail accounts, I use Duck Duck Go and Google as search engines, I have a Google Pixel 6a phone. It seemed logical to use Chrome, especially after I encountered specific problems with Safari and Firefox, although I have both of those up-to-date as backups. I have Firefox and Chrome on my Pixel. All my phone photos are uploaded to Google Photos, which works well. I use Google Images, Play, Shopping and Translate. My TV and PVR are Android-based.

Google very kindly sends me a map every month to show me where I've been for more than an hour, which sent shivers up my spine the first time I got it, but I have adopted Dr. Strangelove's attitude (where Google is the Bomb). And maps and searches work better for me when I have Location switched on.

As Alfred E. Neuman said, "What, me worry?"

Oh, yeah – I like Chrome because it works well.

Chrome or rather the open source version Chromium is arguably the newest and most sophisticated browser engine around and apparently is quite easy to work with and adapt. Add to that the rich source of browser extensions available. As a result it has becoem the base for multiple new browsers emphasizing security and privacy. In my experience with the Chrome based Arc browser I have yet to find a site that it hasn't handled well and I cannot say that about safari. It is just a good solid browser and as Ira points out, it is deeply embedded in the Google eco-system, and there are a LOT of devices and users in that ecosystem. I am using the Chrome based Arc browser in spite of its Google roots and I am more and more confident that Chrome's penchant for phoning home has been reined in by the open source community and Arc's developers in particular.

That is all well and good, but who defines what is "wrong"?

You start with your built-in paranoia, and then you find out the hard way that it wasn't robust enough.

Or to put another twist on it, "just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't put to get you." (IMHO, this twist is particularly apropos where Google is concerned.)

Yeah, I guess you have.

I, on the other hand, don't use ANY of Google's services other than its browser, which, as I've said, I find more helpful than DuckDuckGo, so I never log in, and deny them everything that Analytics can't scrape.

I do, however, use TOR to access blocked content, and Firefox to access a weather map that doesn't play well with my Safari extensions.

All of your observations and quotes not withstanding, I was coming more from the perspective of (recall original statement: "If you've done nothing wrong…") your "wrong" may be my way of life. Hence, who's to say what constitutes a wrong.

Agreed! And I would add, paraphrasing Albert Einstein, it is all relative to your point of view.

Agreed, but only as an inconsequential generalization.

In Freelance's context - our starting point - which is what Google knows, "wrong" is what's codified as wrong, compounded by what may not be so codified but is embarrassing to have "out there," hence, paranoia.

And that's qualified by joemike's (paraphrased) observation that just because something's not codified as "wrong" doesn't mean there's not some insidious presence that considers it "wrong" and is looking for its occurrence.

Just posting to change the thread title on the Forums page.

DAMN! Hit the wrong key combo and lost my response. On the other hand, though, my rewritten responses tend to be better written than the originals.

OK, I'll give it a try. I doubt that it'll replace the deep search app I had back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth - which I invariably used out of curiosity, rather than necessity - but maybe it'll be useful.

Which I'm sure influences many info seekers (in particular) and shoppers, maybe even a large majority of them, but I know what I'm looking for when I search, and DDG simply doesn't give it to me. (I wonder what percentage of Google hits is websites that actually pay for positioning?)

First, you once posted the URL of a website which evaluated your computer's "individuality," but if I bookmarked it, I can't find it, so will you please repost it?

I guess an IP address can be related to transactions made by that address, and the info contained therein, but I don't follow how a computer's "attributes" can be as informative as you say, providing access to one's SSN, in particular.

I'm not one to throw caution to the wind, but neither am I one to let it induce unnecessary paranoia, and your response will help me judge where, between the extremes, I stand.

But to be honest, I have always used the Pro version and can't honestly judge the Lite option.


That information is a closely guarded proprietary secret. But it suggests the probability that all Google search results are biased and therefore any conclusions or decisions based on those results are questionable. That is exactly why I use DEVONAgent Pro. DAP starts with a Google search, then it analyzes and ranks the findings itself instead of relying on Googles ranking. Personally I wish DAP offered the option of using a different search engine, or even better — multiple engines, for the search.


And I have Private Relay turned on so the closest location they can get to me is the continental Unites States. But that does not stop someone from identifying my browser and from there getting my personal information including the home address, SSN, etc.


Cover Your Tracks. You can also get Privacy Badger there, but Safari doesn't have an API it can link with it — yet. (That is a current work in process.)

1. Read How do trackers work? from the Cover Your Tracks page on the Electronic Frontier's Foundation website.
2. run Cover Your Tracks
3. then read the Detailed Results from each of the characteristics in the Cover Your Tracks test being sure Detailed view is turned on.

There is a LOT of information there, that identifies your browser. Taken together with the sites that browser has visited together with your personal information that sites you have done business with have sold to the data brokers, piecing together your identity is not that difficult. It makes the news when a major corporation has an identity breach, but it is the the vast amount of money misappropriated from millions of individuals is the real target. The latest figures indicate someone's identity is stolen and misused EVERY THREE SECONDS. I am not paranoid, but it would be foolish not to take appropriate precaution. The question every internet user has to ask themselves is

This just in from Google. Who says Google can't steal Apple's Private Relay idea.

I tried Lite, and it returned Google search results for both search terms I tried, i.e., "Ellis" and "NBA," but it showed different results numbers for the two, less for "Ellis," and more for "NBA," although as far down the pages as I scrolled, the shown results were virtually identical.

Where is the dopeslap emoji when I need it?.

DEVONAgent Pro has two components

1. DEVONAgent Express which searches Google and is run from the menu bar, and is powerful enough to be an first choice search option.
2. DEVONAgent Pro which can either be run from the Dock or set to run automatically and searches not only Google, Bing, Brave, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo but individual web sites such as APPLE.COM. using sophisticated search sets. In essence your personal AI search assistant.

One of these days I may actually read the manual [b]before[/i] I shoot off my mouth.

Clarification: There are three incarnations of DEVONagent...

1. Lite (Freeware) is a strictly menu bar app, the sole purpose of which is to initiate Google searches.

2. Express ($4.95 shareware [100 free searches], which I've purchased) is a full fledged app with a menu bar presence from which you can initiate multiple different searches and types of searches, including "deep."

3. Pro ($49.95 shareware), which I'm not even the least bit curious about.

I'm still working on this, but I'm still at a complete loss as to how my SSN can be accessed.

There's lots of info about me that's regularly transmitted, but my SSN is never included in that info.

Also, I've got one backup that most people, the vast majority, I'll guess, in all likelihood don't have, which is having my credit report locked at all the reporting agencies.

1. I don't see any need for me to pay for iCloud+.
2. You keep mentioning SSN, and I still don't understand how it's accessible.

Following your links, I feel like I've fallen into a rabbit hole.

I ran Cover Your Tracks, and got the top results, but after poking around a bit I found the pref pane in the middle, and after switching my pref from "Private Browsing" to "all browsing," I got the bottom, better, results, although I don't know yet if it changing the pref will affect my browsing in any way.

Following that, I searched to find out if my unique footprint enables others to access passwords, and if there's a definitive answer to that question, I either haven't found it or haven't understood it, although I THINK the answer's "no."

Am I correct?

I know the feeling.


The private browsing reference took me a while to figure out that it is a Safari preference setting. For more information see this Apple support document. There are trackers that cross boundaries and track what is going on in other browser windows. Private browsing prevents this, but you have to open a Private window to have the protections. The linked article has instructions on how to do this.


If you mean there is no direct lookup table per. se. then you are correct. However, information such as address, telephone number, credit card number, bank account numbers, social security number ie anything and everything needed to sell your home without your knowledge or consent is openly and legally available from data brokers who have purchased the data from organizations you have done business with and it only takes a few nano-seconds to link your browser's footprint to a reasonably limited number of possible identities. Congress is just now considering legislation that if, and when, passed will give the consumer the ability to have at least some degree of control over what data brokers can reveal, but don't hold your breath waiting for it as privacy is up against a multi-trillion dollar industry.

PASSWORDS ARE A DIFFERENT ISSUE ALTOGETHER as they are typically the result of illegal data breaches available only from unregulated dark web sources and the perpetrators are often generally outside of any functional legal jurisdiction. But, unless you foolishly reuse a password, that vulnerability is limited to a single site and easily changed when a breach occurs (assuming you are notified as required by law). Most password managers track data breaches and flag potentially compromised passwords.

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1. An increasingly common scam in today's tight housing market.