Proposal to change default search engine

[Alexander Hanff]

Hi list,

 

Introduction

---------------

In light of the recent scandal regarding the NSA's surveillance programme
PRISM and the fact that all US Corporations or Non-US Corporations with
facilities within the US are vulnerable to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court (FISC) orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, USA
PATRIOT Act and also under  Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement
Act (CALEA) and other orders (such as National Security Letters) - I would
like to begin a discussion on changing the default search engine in Ubuntu's
web browsers from Google to a more privacy enhancing service.

 

Disclosure

------------

My name is Alexander Hanff, I am a privacy advocate who has for the past 5+
years been campaigning for human rights across the globe.  I worked in the
technology sector for over 17 years before returning to university to study
the impact of technology on society as a sociologist.  Prior to completing
my degree, I spearheaded a campaign against a company called Phorm who were
seeking to intercept all communications at the ISP level by installing Deep
Packet Inspection (DPI) technology across most of the UK's public
communications networks.

 

After launching NoDPI.org and successfully chasing Phorm out of the UK and
EU, I took up a position at Privacy International, where I headed up their
Digital Privacy portfolio for 3 years.

 

I have given speeches at conferences all over the world, including Brazil,
Beijing, Washington DC and most European countries as well as having been
involved at the regional (EU Commission) and national level on consultations
regarding several laws, including Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act
2000 (in the UK) and Europe's ePrivacy Directive.

 

In January last year, I left Privacy International and became an independent
campaigner and consultant.

 

I am currently not an employee at Startpage or Ixquick and I am posting this
email as an advocate of civil liberties and fundamental rights.

 

Proposal

-----------

 

I would like to see Ubuntu change the default search provider to
Startpage.com

 

My reason for this is that Startpage.com return search results from Google,
but they do so in a privacy enhancing manner - that being they do not send
any information about the person making the query to Google.  Furthermore,
they provide the option of accessing returned results via their proxy, which
protects their users from passing on personal information when they click on
a result.  They also provide cookieless preferences, they don't log any
information at all and they encrypt all connections by default via HTTPS.

 

Now I won't lie to you all, I am a big fan of the company - I know them very
well and have provided a lot of advice to them over the past 5 years in
order for them to improve their services.  But that doesn't form the basis
of my motive for this email.  I have been a Linux user since 1997 and I am a
big supporter of FOSS software and the FOSS community - first and foremost,
I want to help protect people's privacy.

 

Startpage is based in the Netherlands and are a Dutch company, which means
they are not vulnerable to US surveillance laws.  Furthermore, they are
certified by Europrise, the leading privacy auditing body in the EU, funded
by the European Commission.  I know the team personally and have visited
their office on a number of occasions, they have always taken my advice to
heart and implemented every change I have suggested to them.  I have
absolutely every confidence that they are a privacy enhancing technology and
a benefit to the world & I would stake my reputation on that in a heartbeat.

 

Can we please begin the discussion on making this change for the benefit of
all Ubuntu users and show the world that FOSS embraces and enhances
fundamental rights?

 

Regards,

 

Alexander Hanff

Privacy Consultant

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-discuss/attachments/20130624/2e5b6a8c/attachment.html>