Why Does Search Encrypt Offer a Chrome Extension? — Search Encrypt Blog

We’ve noticed some feedback on places like Reddit and Twitter regarding our decision to offer a browser extension for Google Chrome. We understand that Google has been heavily criticized by people in the privacy world for its data collection practices.

Why Does Search Encrypt Offer a Chrome Extension?

People are quick to criticize any brand that offers a Chrome extension, because of the criticism Chrome receives for its poor privacy protection. If people are already using Chrome, we think that it is better to use a private search engine than to take no privacy precautions at all. If someone insists on using Chrome, but wants to at least limit how much of their search data is collected by Google, our browser extension can help achieve that.

There Is No Definite Privacy Line

It’s difficult to label every product and service as either “private” or “not private”. Similar tools can vary greatly on their privacy and data security. Internet tools fall all along the privacy spectrum, so just because one tool you’re using isn’t perfect on privacy doesn’t mean it’s totally bad.

We wouldn’t recommend Google Chrome as our first choice for privacy-friendly browsers, however using a private search engine with Chrome is more privacy-friendly than using Google (Chrome’s default search engine).

Private Search Engines Are Just One Privacy Tool

Regardless of which browser you use, using a private search engine alone will not make your browsing more private. We’ve chosen to make our products compatible with all platforms so that anyone can take the first step towards searching privately.

Not everyone is savvy enough about protecting their privacy online to know which browsers are most privacy-friendly. There are likely some users who are concerned with their privacy but don’t know how to install an alternative browser on their device. Using Search Encrypt with Google Chrome may still let the browser collect your browsing, but not handing over your entire search history to Chrome can still help limit targeted ads and any search biases associated with Google.

Read More: Private Search Engines — A Complete Guide

Originally published at choosetoencrypt.com on September 9, 2019.