Leave Google Behind is a site that explains how to take back your online privacy by keeping Google at bay. Heavy anti-Google bias (my kind of people) with very good tutorials on how to configure Firefox for maximum privacy using extensions like NoScript, RequestPolicy, and Ghostery. Worth a look, I learned a lot at this site:
http://www.leavegooglebehind.com/
The site doesn’t mention the worthwhile Startpage.com search engine. Startpage serves you Google Search results while maintaining your privacy. I’ve compared search results using Startpage to Google Search and find very little difference. I’ve removed Google from my browsers and rely on Startpage.
I’ve been using IXquick
"You can't buy happiness… but you can buy weed, which is pretty close."
dogpile?
Ixquick is very good. I recommend it as well.
DuckDuckGo, IXQuick and Startpage for the win.
I just can’t sever my umbilical to Google yet.
No PRISM. No Surveillance. No Government Back Doors. You Have our Word on it.
Giant US government Internet spying scandal revealed
The Washington Post and The Guardian have revealed a US government mass Internet surveillance program code-named "PRISM". They report that the NSA and the FBI have been tapping directly into the servers of nine US service providers, including Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo, YouTube, AOL and Skype, and began this surveillance program at least seven years ago. 
These revelations are shaking up an international debate.
Ixquick has always been very outspoken when it comes to protecting people’s Privacy and civil liberties. So it won’t surprise you that we are a strong opponent of overreaching, unaccountable spy programs like PRISM. In the past, even government surveillance programs that were begun with good intentions have become tools for abuse, for example tracking civil rights and anti-war protesters.
Programs like PRISM undermine our Privacy, disrupt faith in governments, and are a danger to the free Internet.
Ixquick and its sister search engine StartPage have in their 14-year history never provided a single byte of user data to the US government, or any other government or agency. Not under PRISM, nor under any other program in the US, nor under any program anywhere in the world.
Here’s how we are different:
Ixquick does not store any user data. We make this perfectly clear to everyone, including any governmental agencies. We do not record the IP addresses of our users and we don’t use tracking cookies, so there is literally no data about you on our servers to access. Since we don’t even know who our customers are, we can’t share anything with Big Brother. In fact, we’ve never gotten even a single request from a governmental authority to supply user data in the fourteen years we’ve been in business.
Ixquick uses encryption (HTTPS) by default. Encryption prevents snooping. Your searches are encrypted, so others can’t "tap" the Internet connection to snoop what you’re searching for. This combination of not storing data together with using strong encryption for the connections is key in protecting your Privacy.
Our company is based in The Netherlands, Europe. US jurisdiction does not apply to us, at least not directly. Any request or demand from ANY government (including the US) to deliver user data, will be thoroughly checked by our lawyers, and we will not comply unless the law which actually applies to us would undeniably require it from us. And even in that hypothetical situation, we refer to our first point; we don’t even have any user data to give. We will never cooperate with voluntary spying programs like PRISM.
Ixquick cannot be forced to start spying. Given the strong protection of the Right to Privacy in Europe, European governments cannot just start forcing service providers like us to implement a blanket spying program on their users. And if that ever changed, we would fight this to the end.
Privacy. It’s not just our policy, it’s our mission.
Sincerely,
Robert E.G. Beens
CEO Ixquick.com and StartPage.com
Ixquick and Startpage are from the same company. Startpage always seems to return more relevant results for me.
This is a very interesting topic. For myself that does not like all my privacy invaded and freedoms taking away this is a very good read. Thanks to all for sharing your knowledge and experience.