Seven ways to keep your search history private

Tip No. 4: Use ixquick

Here's the easiest way to make sure that information about your searches can't be used to build a personal profile about you: Use a search engine that doesn't retain a history of your searches. That's what ixquick promises. It says it deletes all information about your searches within 48 hours, so the information simply isn't around for anyone to use. If the government subpoenas the data, there's nothing for them to get.

ixquick claims that it delete information about your searches, so that the information isn't available to anyone. (Click image to see larger view)

Tip No. 5: Don't include personal information in your searches

We've all "Googled" ourselves at times, just to see what's out there on the Web about us. But every time you use personal information in a search, such as your name, address and so on, you make it easy for a search engine to know who you are and then correlate searches with your name. Worse, it can lead to identity theft if you search for information such as your Social Security number and someone gets hold of your search records. So try to avoid including personal information about yourself in your searches.

Tip No. 6: Do sensitive searches from a public hot spot

If you absolutely must do a search about personal information or do a search that is sensitive for some other reason, don't do it at home or at work. Instead, go to a public hot spot and do the search from there. Make sure to use a hot spot that doesn't require you to log in, or else your privacy can be compromised.

Tip No. 7: Avoid using your Internet service provider's search engine

Your service provider knows your IP address, which means that it can track all the Web sites you visit. That's bad enough for your privacy, but if you also use its search engine, it will be able to correlate your IP address to your searches and build an even more comprehensive profile about you. That profile may be available to anyone with a subpoena. So don't use a service provider's search engine, such as http://search.comcast.net/.

Preston Gralla is a contributing editor for Computerworld, and the author of more than 35 books, including Windows Vista in a Nutshell.

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• Martin McKeay: The dark side of search engines
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