Search Privacy Improvements
I spent a few evenings hacking Chromium (open source version of the Chrome browser). The idea is that users can have personalized and anonymous services from a single browser instance.
Today, a Chrome user has to have two windows open: one in incognito mode for using services where identity is not disclosed and a second one where the user is logged in. It’s hard to manage and easy to get things mixed up. I suspect that the number of search queries from an incognito browser instance are minuscule.
On the other hand, the “Manage search engines” dialogue is a great place to provide a search engine option for users who don’t like or don’t want personalized search. Open Search for example could define an <anonymous/> tag or equivalent. Browser implementations could then build the UI to give user the option of using a given search engine anonymously (i.e. without sending cookies).
I uploaded proof of concept patches to github earlier today. If the search provider also is an email service provider (not very uncommon), you can now use one browser instance and two tabs — one personalized (email) and the other anonymous (search), so your search queries are not associated with your email profile.
