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[GH-ISSUE #673] [QUESTION] Legality of hosting whoogle instance #428

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opened 2026-02-25 20:35:44 +03:00 by kerem · 6 comments

kerem commented

2026-02-25 20:35:44 +03:00

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Originally created by @NebulaBC on GitHub (Mar 3, 2022).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search/issues/673

I have been considering hosting a whoogle instance (and a hastebin, but that's unrelated) on heroku. I am curious about the legality, since on my personal sites I have often skipped by a privacy policy, but whoogle seems to collect some data. Whoogle instances have no privacy policy linked, so I am curious what the deal is with that. Have there ever been any instances of a selfhosted application running into legal trouble? (or whoogle specifically) Should I be worried about hosting these services bringing me any legal problems in the future?

Also, how would I ever go about deleting user data if it was requested?

Originally created by @NebulaBC on GitHub (Mar 3, 2022). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search/issues/673 I have been considering hosting a whoogle instance (and a hastebin, but that's unrelated) on heroku. I am curious about the legality, since on my personal sites I have often skipped by a privacy policy, but whoogle seems to collect some data. Whoogle instances have no privacy policy linked, so I am curious what the deal is with that. Have there ever been any instances of a selfhosted application running into legal trouble? (or whoogle specifically) Should I be worried about hosting these services bringing me any legal problems in the future? Also, how would I ever go about deleting user data if it was requested?

kerem

2026-02-25 20:35:44 +03:00

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kerem commented

2026-02-25 20:35:44 +03:00

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@Albonycal commented on GitHub (Mar 4, 2022):

uh it's possible, there could be some legal troubles if a malicious actor uses your instance, but I am no legal expert.. I'll add a privacy policy to my instance 👍 and no, whoogle doesn't store any data.
I don't know about the public instances. If you don't trust them you can host your own

@Albonycal commented on GitHub (Mar 4, 2022): uh it's possible, there could be some legal troubles if a malicious actor uses your instance, but I am no legal expert.. I'll add a privacy policy to my instance :+1: and no, whoogle doesn't store any data. I don't know about the public instances. If you don't trust them you can host your own

kerem commented

2026-02-25 20:35:44 +03:00

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@NebulaBC commented on GitHub (Mar 8, 2022):

I considered that, but also the requests to Google are encrypted, right? I am a bit in the dark over hosting all together. Hopefully there are no issues anyways (since for my case at least) heroku seems like more of the place to just term you before anything else

@NebulaBC commented on GitHub (Mar 8, 2022): I considered that, but also the requests to Google are encrypted, right? I am a bit in the dark over hosting all together. Hopefully there are no issues anyways (since for my case at least) heroku seems like more of the place to just term you before anything else

kerem commented

2026-02-25 20:35:44 +03:00

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@Albonycal commented on GitHub (Mar 9, 2022):

no? all uses TLS

On Wed, Mar 9, 2022 at 12:24 AM NebulaBC @.***> wrote:

I considered that, but also the requests to Google are encrypted, right? I
am a bit in the dark over hosting all together. Hopefully there are no
issues anyways (since for my case at least) heroku seems like more of the
place to just term you before anything else

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@Albonycal commented on GitHub (Mar 9, 2022): no? all uses TLS On Wed, Mar 9, 2022 at 12:24 AM NebulaBC ***@***.***> wrote: > I considered that, but also the requests to Google are encrypted, right? I > am a bit in the dark over hosting all together. Hopefully there are no > issues anyways (since for my case at least) heroku seems like more of the > place to just term you before anything else > > — > Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub > <https://github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search/issues/673#issuecomment-1062098694>, > or unsubscribe > <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AP7TNJ42GAPCCMAQQN2RQJDU66O7TANCNFSM5P36KEYA> > . > You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: > ***@***.***> >

kerem commented

2026-02-25 20:35:44 +03:00

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@NebulaBC commented on GitHub (Mar 9, 2022):

Yes, but my point is that the company you are hosting with can not see the info going back and forth between your server and google. And if you have a cert on your whoogle server they can see the data going into whoogle from the user. Correct?

@NebulaBC commented on GitHub (Mar 9, 2022): Yes, but my point is that the company you are hosting with can not see the info going back and forth between your server and google. And if you have a cert on your whoogle server they can see the data going into whoogle from the user. Correct?

kerem commented

2026-02-25 20:35:44 +03:00

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@Albonycal commented on GitHub (Mar 10, 2022):

nope, all they'll see if one IP connecting to this server,
also now I am hosting on my own server

Message ID: @.***>

@Albonycal commented on GitHub (Mar 10, 2022): nope, all they'll see if one IP connecting to this server, also now I am hosting on my own server > Message ID: ***@***.***> >

kerem commented

2026-02-25 20:35:44 +03:00

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@NebulaBC commented on GitHub (Mar 10, 2022):

Thanks for clearing that up. Sorry I asked the same question a couple of times, I was just confused with how you were saying it.

@NebulaBC commented on GitHub (Mar 10, 2022): Thanks for clearing that up. Sorry I asked the same question a couple of times, I was just confused with how you were saying it.

kerem referenced this issue

2026-02-25 20:36:58 +03:00

[PR #428] [MERGED] Add zh-TW translations #875