Ecosia adds “contractually forced” Microsoft Clarity tracking (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/setup-and-installation/about-clarity | privacy faq : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/faq#privacy), which will record the behaviour of users on the website. Recording clics, size, and more.
They will also add an optional Google setting. Enabling the cookie will allow to get search results from Google, but also to get tracked by Google.
Optional Microsoft advertising tracking is still a thing, tho it may not be necessary if Bing can get a fingerprint and behaviour of the user in real time…
This may be the final flow for Ecosia for me. Unless somehow the Microsoft Clarity can be private… But I don’t think so.
I’m trying out Kagi atm, but it’s not free. The alternative is basically “pick your poison”. I think any “free” service will inevitably end up in the same sketchy shit all companies large enough are drawn into.
Still not sure where I land at the end of the trial; the cost is really pushing the limit of what I could justify paying for online search.
I just started the trial the other day and set it as my default browser. So far, I feel like the results are better than DDG and it feels cleaner/better organized. It has cool customizations that I’ll probably never touch.
It’s honestly gonna hurt to go back. But not as much as the pricetag. Maybe it should be lumped into a suite of some sort.