The world needs more search engines

#1

Post by kkm » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 4:41 PM UTC

The world needs more search engines
0x65.dev

Re: The world needs more search engines

#2

Post by gfawke5 » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 4:47 PM UTC

> “What has Google ever done for us?”. They have done an awful lot for society, for the web and probably saved it a few times a long time ago. But it is time to also see them as the empire they have become. And empires must fall.

Re: The world needs more search engines

#3

Post by pythux » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 4:49 PM UTC

Absolutely love this quote from the article:

> Paraphrasing Monty Python: “What has Google ever done for us?”. They have done an awful lot for society, for the web and probably saved it a few times a long time ago. But it is time to also see them as the empire they have become. And empires must fall.

I think people generally do not understand well enough the far-fetched consequences of a monopoly in the search business. We really need more diversity and competition in this space, not just for quality of results and convenience of services; but for society as a whole.

The article rightly points out that Google is a new "Cambridge Analytica" (even on steroids), we should not passively wait for our democracies to break down because information is controlled by a single private entity. Let's step out of our comfort zones, try new products, support the ones we like!

Re: The world needs more search engines

#4

Post by Hackbraten » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 4:50 PM UTC

Thanks but no thanks.

I don’t trust a browser nor a search engine if an ad imperium paid for it and gives it away for free.

Does the Cliqz browser still disallow plugins, such as ad blockers?

Re: The world needs more search engines

#5

Post by meerita » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 4:54 PM UTC

I'm more than happy with DuckDuckGo. I would love more specialized search engines. Back in the day I've used several search engines depending the task i needed to perform, from Altavista to Yahoo to Google.

Re: The world needs more search engines

#6

Post by streetcat1 » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 4:56 PM UTC

So let's say that google fall and you become the new king. Will you allow another competitor in?

Re: The world needs more search engines

#7

Post by tclover » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 4:56 PM UTC

I'm already degoogling myself, transferring all my emails to tutanota and using firefox with duckduckgo now.

Re: The world needs more search engines

#8

Post by tanilama » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 4:57 PM UTC

Nah, two or more search engines all being the product of US big techs won't solve the problem.

EU should have its own search engine. They should subsidize this effort and have Google pay for it.

Re: The world needs more search engines

#9

Post by tasubotadas » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 4:58 PM UTC

>And empires must fall

Why?

Re: The world needs more search engines

#10

Post by pythux » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 4:58 PM UTC

Hackbraten wrote: post #4

Thanks but no thanks. I don’t trust a browser nor a search engine if an ad imperium paid for it and gives it away for free. Does the Cliqz browser still disallow plugins, such as ad blockers?

> Does the Cliqz browser still disallow plugins, such as ad blockers?

Hey, I work on Cliqz' adblocker (open-source here: https://github.com/cliqz-oss/adblocker). Cliqz browser comes built-in with adblocking, anti-tracking, anti-phishing and private search built-in so that users are protected by default.

You can also install another one if you prefer since all Firefox extension are also available from Cliqz! But the one built-in is pretty good already[^1] and we're happy to get more feedback about how we can improve it!

Finally, Cliqz search is also available standalone now so feel free to give it a try! https://beta.cliqz.com/

[^1]: https://whotracks.me/blog/adblockers_performance_study.html