@nutrigm: If you've never used Ask, how on earth would you get useful information from it?

Russkiejedi

While I can't think right off hand why I would need to secure search engine, I think it's still important to have access to one or more. It seems to me that too often we as citizens of a so-called democracy are very comfortable with having our private lives open to whomever wants to know about us. We often forget just how information is a serious weapon that can be used against us. So it's good to see that secure sites like this one and [senduit.com] can be used if you don't want leave a trail behind when it comes to our computer and Internet use.

These secure services I would image are really useful for journalists, professors, students, and other people who work in certain work environments where their Internet activity may be scrutinized for political reasons.

The only people who shouldn't have rights to this type activity are the politicians who are supposed to be working for us, but it looks they are indeed the ones who have the most secure technologies at hand when they need them.

Bakari

Wait, arn't they legally required to keep the info for some time?

cde

@tehblacksheep234: Some (myself included) believe that the right to search anonymously is protected by the First Amendment. Implicit in the free speech clause is a right to read anonymously; this facilitates the improvement and growth of one concept on which the First Amendment is based: the marketplace of ideas. Even assuming all of the content one searches for is protected under the First Amendment, one still has an interest in not revealing that they have acted to access that content. Content may be embarrassing, or it may be unpopular. The Sedition Act, the Espionage Act, and the PATRIOT Act have shown and show us that the government has an interest in suppressing unpopular - but constitutionally protected - speech or monitoring those who read, write, or speak it. In some cases, anonymity is essential to the full expression, distribution, and consideration of ideas.

aeneas

I've never used Ask or gotten any useful information from it.

nutrigm

Hmm. I'm not really sure what to think of this. Is Ask encouraging us to look at porn? Does anyone really use Ask? I mean, it's a nice move, and a step forward, but... I don't know

tehblacksheep234

Why would I want my searches to be so secure? Does searching create a vulnerability to information leakage?

Reg

Ask always seems like the "slow" cousin to the other big players, no matter what it does.

leliathomas

Any reason why this is better than www.scroogle.org? Scroogle uses Google's search engine so the results are probably better than "ask".

D Wiz

I read another news story on this. Ask does obtain some results from Google. Google still has the ability to track your searches.

Another option is to use Tor and then your Google searches aren't linked to your IP anyway.

Spuddude

Ask is alright....but I prefer Clusty...

But, I view this just as I do those "privacy policies" that new web2.0 companies create. What's stopping from actually stopping the recording of your information when you click the switch On?

It's a trust issue.....I think I'd rather use Google over a Torrified or SOCKSified connection if I intend to do any "sneaky searches" that I wouldn't want to be tied to "me"

ahoier

I visit their news page all the times,

[www.news.ask.com]

so I'm going to use that new thing.

Thanks Adam!

SamVed