I want to ungoogle myself online

[Generic Other]

But it seems very difficult. Since I have Youtube, I am apparently linked there. I can't figure out how to even disable Google+ It is all so confusing. And say you would like to get personal info offline. If you write the websites, are they required to comply? Anyone have any info or advice on better protecting our privacy?

Someone on another thread said DuckDuckGo which looks pretty cool.

What other advice can DU privacy freaks offer us all to get off the data mining grid. I am incensed at the idea that any company would share my personal browsing history. That is so invasive I can't believe Google expects to survive after instituting such a policy. I remember when AOL released the browsing history of millions of subscribers. That's when I quit AOL. I thought they got sued.

I don't understand why Google thinks they can expose our privacy and expect to keep their users. I will completely disable all Google products from my computer before I accept their new plan. But will it matter? Is there anyway to escape?

I have been dinking around with settings all day and am not sure I am accomplishing much. I want my privacy protected!

[sharp_stick]

1. You can also use

track-me-not for Firefox and Chrome which spams search engines with nonsensible as well as common search terms to overwhelm your search history making any data mining operation a waste of time.

I've not tried DuckDuckGo yet but probably will give it a shot.

[RKP5637]

4. I've been using that for a long time, track-me-not. Works well IMO.

[bemildred]

7. I use Ghostery, which seems to be OK.

[onehandle]

2. Disabling all things Google is a good start. Google+ upped their game in invasiveness.

Google is basically what Microsoft was in the 1990s. I dumped gmail a while back.*

Google’s Broken Promise: The End of "Don’t Be Evil"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002224305

*Except for one throwaway account that I use for annoying salespeople and services.

[RKP5637]

3. Here's something you might want to look at ... I use it free as a

Firefox addon. I believe they also offer a fee based service for removing you from some websites. I've never used that service, don't know much about it ... but their blocking sw (free) works quite well IMO.

http://www.abine.com/apps.php

[bemildred]

5. Clean your cookies, delete your history, get ad-blockers and Noscript, and run a unix derived OS.

But mainly it's the cookies. Learn how to clean all the crap cookies daily at least. takes a few seconds once you have it down.

[SidDithers]

6. So does Rick Santorum...nt

Sid

[Generic Other]

12. He's a public figure...I am a nobody

And I'd like to stay that way.

[snagglepuss]

8. I have a very uncommon name and I post nothing with my name on line so I was

surprised to see several things on line with my name (it seems someone else shares my first and last name which is beyond belief). Anyway there were several sites I definitely didn't want to be associated with but only one site complied with my request to drop the name. I then contacted Google as per googles instructions and they were able to do something so when my name is googled it doesn't pull up that website.

I am also teed off that organizations that I belonged to in the early 1980s have posted my name as one of their former members.

Those groups aren't embarrassing but I am a very private person and don't want parts of my history on line. It really makes me angry.

[Generic Other]

13. I agree with you...it is my own business if I want to share info online

It makes me mad to see my name online because someone else released personal information. Feels a bit like a losing battle, but still...

[salvorhardin]

9. How to get rid of Google+

You can go directly to Downgrade from Google Plus page, or follow the instructions:

1. Go to your Account settings via the drop-arrow menu next to your picture/avatar on the Plus Bar at the top of all Google products.
   
2. Click on Account overview in the left column options pane
   
3. Scroll to Services near the bottom of the page
   
4. Click the Delete profile and remove associated Google+ features link
   
5. Choose the radio button next to Delete Google+ content if you want to merely get rid of Google+
   
6. Choose the radio button next to Delete your entire Google profile if you want to get rid of your entire Google profile, and any Google services that depend on it (i.e. almost all of them)
   
7. Click the Remove selected services button
   
   Congratulations, you're G- now.
   
   

[russspeakeasy]

10. Thank you.

[sazemisery]

14. Thanks!

[Remember Me]

11. I am so very very angry with Google for their parasitism

and what I consider a betrayal of their own community.

I am going to be disengaging myself to the extent possible over the next few weeks. Here are some resources if anyone else wants to join me:

How To: Escape From Google’s Clutches, Once and For All
http://gizmodo.com/5879015/how-to-escape-from-googles-clutches-once-and-for-all

Also, you can use http://www.scroogle.org/ for search purposes, as well as Bing, of course, and . And there are other places to post and host your videos, but other than Vimeo, I'm not that familiar with them and really, not all that familiar with Vimeo.

I think I'm going to download Thunderbird as an email client and use email capacity from my various websites. Dagnabbit. I've had this Gmail account for freakin' EVER. I'm so furious with Gmail for making this necessary. I wisll never trust them again.

And btw, I ran across this comment from Julian Assange:

But Assange didn't just stop at Facebook. He also told RT that in addition to the world's largest social network, Google and Yahoo "have built-in interfaces for U.S. intelligence."
"It's not a matter of serving a subpoena," he told RT. "They have an interface that they have developed for U.S. intelligence to use."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20059247-17.html


And thank Goddess I'm not all entangled in Google+ or Google Docs or any of a number of other all-thing-Google. I started to get involved with Google+ but for some providential reason stepped back.

And I think I'm going to divorce the Facebook fascists as well.

[salvorhardin]

15. Has anyone actually read the new privacy policy?

Last edited Thu Jan 26, 2012, 08:44 PM - Edit history (1)

It doesn't seem so evil to me. http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/preview

YMMV of course, but I really think people are making too big a deal about this.

[Tunkamerica]

16. and you can opt out of it all, it's just cooler to think it's evil