2w ago

Mullvad Leta a privacy focus search engine

leta.mullvad.net

Mullvad Leta

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.bestiver.se/post/410276

Mullvad Leta
Comments

22 comments

Just a shell around Brave and Google.
- Which grows more useless everyday, arguably. I reckon I'll still stick with Kagi.
- What does it have to do with Brave?
  
  Isn't it obvious from its front page? It lets you choose between the Brave and the Google search engines.
While I am a very happy mullvad VPN user this offering doesn't seem very comparable to say a searxng instance especially a self hosted one.
- This is more private in some ways because more people use it. If you host your own searxng instance, Google/Brave/Bing can guess it's the same person that searches for all the things using the IP of your server.
- so you have the ultra-cheap Mullvad service and it is fast enough for you? This is the same one where I can send in cash to Mullvad to pay - umm, the super-anonymous Mullvad VPN?
Using Leta with Mullvad VPN might be like putting all your eggs in one basket
- From their FAQ
  What is the point of Leta?
  Leta aims to present a reliable and trustworthy way of searching privately on the internet.
  However, Leta is useless as a service if you use the perfect non-logging VPN, a privacy focussed DNS service, a web browser that resists fingerprinting, and correlation attacks from global actors. Leta is also useless if your browser blocks all cookies, tracking pixels and other tracking technologies.
  For most people Leta can be useful, as the above conditions cannot ever truly be met by systems that are available today.
  If you use their VPN and their browser or any firefox properly configured there is no reason to use Leta.
- Not really. IMO, the determining factor for this is how "sticky" a given service is.
  Leta is a public search engine that you don't have to pay for their VPN to use, and switching search engines is quite trivial, making this a very easy switch in the event that either service is unsatisfactory.
  That said, I have no idea why anyone would want Google search results in 2025 because their search engine is terrible, but more power to anyone that does.
  
  The only other option is bing 🤡 which is now marginally better
  
  The only thing that they are still undisputed kings of, is checking the hours of stores near me. That maps data is hard to beat.
Love Mullvad and all their work but this one aint it, Im sticking with searxng.
Did a test search: "movie where charlize is homeless"
An interview about Monster was second. Wikipedia articles about her and her filmography were shortly after. Top his was top ten movies about homelessness. Imdb page for Monster wasn't on the first page.
Google, Kagi, and DDG all had it at the top. I think this one needs time to mature.
Not sure why, but my search results have been even worse than with duckduckgo
Needs to have tabs for images, video, etc.
I'm going to try Mullvad Leta as my main search engine for a few weeks to see how it works. Thanks for the suggestion — I had no idea it even existed. BTW, even though I use NordVPN, I love Mullvad VPN for the privacy it offers to the users. In a couple of months, when my Nord subscription ends, I'll switch to Mullvad.
How is it so fast?

22 comments

What is the point of Leta?