Privacy?
You want true privacy? ........ unplug, that is the only way you will achieve true privacy
It does not matter what browser you use, albeit some are more secure than others and yes I would NEVER use any Chromium based browser, just for the Google factor, I switched to Firefox years ago and have not deviated, Duck Duck Go is my default search engine.
It doesn't matter how hardened you think your system may be, what browser you use, what security software you use , what VPN you use, whether it keeps logs or doesn't keep logs or any of that other stuff, if someone wants to find you, as long as you are plugged in you can be found, it all just really depends on who is looking and how bad they want to find you.
Remember the very first PC you bought?, you brought it home , set it up and plugged that modem into the phone line, cranked up AOL and a few screeches later you connected and took your first step onto the WWW ? your information was out there right then and there, your name, telephone number and address all released to the web within seconds of you being on the web ... there is no getting that back.
Nowadays, there is no telling how much internet traffic and information gets routed through the NSA or Prism, VPN or no VPN.
We need to remember , the World Wide Web originated with the military as a way to communicate decades before it became available for personal and commercial use, if the military used it I can promise you there are things about the web that no one BUT THEM know anything about.
The very first time you plugged in you gave up the right to privacy, now we have smart phones, watches, TV's, Homes , appliances and IP cams, even your cars are wired to the web, everyone has pretty much given up their right to privacy ...... they just don't know it.
Yes Google may be a big problem but what about all the others also ? Social media is the worst, IMO far worse than Google can ever be. Social media has gotten to the point where it is pretty much tracks your every move and is dictating everyday life and even the media, they dictate what you can say and what you cannot say. It can truly destroy ones life. At it's first inception Google and social media was great, problem is no one ever kept them in check and now they have grown out of hand, it has gotten to the point that their algorythims have become so complex that on any given day they can either make you or destroy you, they have even managed to determine the outcomes of world elections .
So, what browser you choose to use? ..... seems pretty moot to me.
Just food for thought.