Scroogle
Scroogle was a web service that allowed users to perform Google searches anonymously. It focused heavily on searcher privacy by blocking Google cookies and not saving log files. The service was launched in 2003 by Google critic Daniel Brandt, who was concerned about Google collecting personal information on its users.[1]
Scroogle offered a web interface and browser plugins for Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer that allowed users to run Google searches anonymously. The service scraped Google search results, removing ads and sponsored links. Only the raw search results were returned, meaning features such as page preview were not available. For added security, Scroogle gave users the option of having all communication between their computer and the search page be SSL encrypted.
Although Scroogle's activities technically violated Google's terms of service, Google generally tolerated its existence, whitelisting the site on multiple occasions. After 2005, the service encountered rapid growth before running into a series of problems starting in 2010. In February 2012, the service was permanently shut down by its creator due to a combination of throttling of search requests by Google and a denial-of-service attack by an unknown person or group.[2]
Before its demise, Scroogle handled around 350,000 queries daily,[3] ranked among the top 4,000 sites worldwide and in the top 2500 for the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries in web traffic.[4] Although it was terminated in 2012, Google still offers a secure search option for anonymous searches called Google encrypted search. On top of this, sites like DuckDuckgo, Ixquick,Yippy,and Ask.com's "ask eraser" also offer secure search options. [5]
- ^ "Fed up with Google? Try Scroogle.org: Powerful search tool without privacy violations". WorldNetDaily. June 4, 2007.
- ^ Jeffries, Adrianne (February 21, 2012). "Scroogle, Privacy-First Search Engine, Shuts Down for Good". Betabeat.com. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
- ^ Beuth, Patrick (February 15, 2012). "Anonymisierte Google-Suche über Scroogle ist blockiert". Die Zeit Online (in German). Retrieved February 24, 2012.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|trans_title=ignored (|trans-title=suggested) (help) (English translation). - ^ "Scroogle.org Site Info". Alexa.com. 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
- ^ McGee, Matt. "Scroogle's gone? Here's who still offer private searching". Search engine land. 2012/02/21. http://searchengineland.com/scroogles-gone-heres-who-still-offers-private-searching-112275