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You are here: Home / Technology / Tricking Google Search With Scroogle

Tricking Google Search With Scroogle

January 7, 2010 by Raj Agrawal 6 Comments

Update as on 17th November, 2015 – Scroogle.com no longer exists.

No cookies. No search-term records. Access log deletes within 48 hours

It’s a quite difficult to obtain and maintain privacy on the web. With the various intentions of collecting user data, it’s really hard to be anonym us all the time. Google Search collects the user’s IP address, search items along with the date and time which can be avoided by using proxy anonymizers and even better, by using a search engine called Scroogle.

Wikipedia reveals:

Google originally placed a cookie on each registered user’s computer, which can be used to track that person’s search history, and that cookie was not set to expire until 2038. As of 2007, Google’s cookie now expires in two years but renews itself when a Google service is used. There is no evidence that Google turns over information to the FBI or the NSA, though some users remain anxious about the possibility. In response, Google claims cookies are necessary to maintain user preferences between sessions and offer other search features.

In early 2005, the United States Department of justice filed a motion in federal court to force Google to comply with a subpoena for, “the text of each search string entered onto Google’s search engine over a two-month period (absent any information identifying the person who entered such query).” Google fought the subpoena, due to concerns about users’ privacy. In March 2006, the court ruled partially in Google’s favor, recognizing the privacy implications of turning over search terms and re-using to grant access.

scroogle
Screw-Google?

Who is Scroogle? How does Scroogle work?

Scroogle, a Mozilla Foundation, is a nonprofit organization with a history of activism on privacy issues. For more info visit: Link

When you enter a search term through Scroogle Search, Scroogle randonly grabs an IP from a pool of it’s IP addresses called Goo IPs. It uses SSL to encrypt your search activity.Then Google issues a new cookie with a new ID, and sends the search results. Scroogle deletes the cookie and saves the results in a file which is also deleted within hour. Google records Sroogle’s IP address, search items and the date and time.

Is there a Firefox, Flock, Microsoft IE7 / IE8, Opera or a Chrome extension available for Scroogle?

Yes. A short tutorial on ‘how to’ is available on the website. www.scroogle.org

So, if you have used this service, do share your experiences in the comments section.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: google, web

About Raj Agrawal

A professional Mobile Software Engineer by profession, an M.C.A and M.C.P by qualification. A guitar hobbyist and an appreciator of Indian classical, folk, metal and baroque music.

Comments

  1. spiele says

    January 11, 2010 at 4:37 PM

    Scroogle submits search queries to Google on a user’s behalf, scrapes the results, and displays them to the user. Scroogle’s search data policies are fantastic: no cookies, no search-term records and all access logs are deleted within 48 hours. The site uses HTTP POST requests by default, which helps to keep the search terms a secret between the user and the search engine.

    Reply
    • loulou says

      July 19, 2010 at 9:08 AM

      scroogle only privatises the google search term you type in, but once you click on the website you were after it’s no longer protecting you? does this matter? or is it just google that it’s trying to keep the information from anyway and after that it does’nt matter?

      Reply
      • Raj says

        July 21, 2010 at 12:56 AM

        Hi Loulou, it really doesn’t matter much. The the entire subject of “privacy on the web” is complex and controversial.

        Google has recently changed it’s search engine’s setup to beat Scroogle, this means Scroogle won’t work anymore. See? Do you get it now? You cannot stay 100% private on the web. The big guys always come up with a solution to their anti-initiatives. While a very insignificant information about the users are collected on the legitimate websites to serve the users better.

        Just relax and make sure you keep away from illegitimate websites and use a good internet security software on your computer to stay safer.

        Reply
  2. Raj says

    January 11, 2010 at 10:38 PM

    Hi Spiele, thanks for your valuable comment.

    Reply
  3. Dan Pratt says

    April 4, 2010 at 8:01 PM

    I’m told scroogle is a good cource of protection of my use of the web. I hope so. I prefer that my web searching and purchases remain my business.

    Reply
  4. Chirag64 says

    October 5, 2010 at 8:02 PM

    Just cookies?!? chek out ur entire Google Search History stored in ur Google Account…

    Reply

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