The world needs more search engines • Hacker News Board

Re: The world needs more search engines

#201

Post by Aeolun » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 6:14 PM UTC

hu3 wrote: post #145

tpllaha wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have an autosuggest feature in the browser which shows search results as you type. Goes without saying that this requires a request per keystroke. If each request contained a unique user id, that would be concerning, but that is not the case. that the search query itself goes to their servers is just common sense, but those requests are anonymized. (Disclaimer: I'm a former employee)

Keystrokes + IP = NSA knows exactly what I'm typing. This "feature" should be off by default on any software that claims to be a privacy respecting alternative to Chrome.

Can you ID someone positively by their typing patterns and an IP?

Re: The world needs more search engines

#202

Post by 29athrowaway » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 6:16 PM UTC

What do you think would happen if Google disappears? My bet is that Baidu would take over and then you would have even more problems.

Re: The world needs more search engines

#203

Post by Aeolun » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 6:17 PM UTC

__ka wrote: post #200

pmontra wrote: post #174

Some feedbacks about the product. I made some typical searches I do in my job. They returned reasonable results. Impossible to know if they are better or worse than Google. I need some days of usage. I'll do my best to keep using it this week. Maybe autodecting the language would help. It gave me a German page without any obvious way to change to English. I went to the settings, changed the language and discovered th…

Many thanks for the feedback. We'll add the language autodetection for the interface and results this week. There is no profiling taking place. The country is just to select what index you would like results from - we'll try to make the UI better. This is still beta, so please keep on using it and we'd love to hear more feedback [beta@cliqz.com].

I second the need to do some form of detection for language. My browser tells webpages I want results in english (Accept-language header), and this can be safely used to detect what is most appropriate initially.

If not that, then at least IP, considering I’m sitting in the US.

Re: The world needs more search engines

#204

Post by golemotron » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 6:17 PM UTC

You can't compete with search directly. It's entrenched. The best you can do is make it irrelevant by occluding it with something that provides better value.. voice-based assistants, for instance.

Re: The world needs more search engines

#205

Post by smolder » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 6:17 PM UTC

hu3 wrote: post #145

tpllaha wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have an autosuggest feature in the browser which shows search results as you type. Goes without saying that this requires a request per keystroke. If each request contained a unique user id, that would be concerning, but that is not the case. that the search query itself goes to their servers is just common sense, but those requests are anonymized. (Disclaimer: I'm a former employee)

Keystrokes + IP = NSA knows exactly what I'm typing. This "feature" should be off by default on any software that claims to be a privacy respecting alternative to Chrome.

It's been my impression that privacy from the NSA is, realistically, not something any commercially viable web company can offer you. An exception can probably be made for a site that operates outside of US influence serving customers outside US influence.

Re: The world needs more search engines

#206

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 6:18 PM UTC

xixixao wrote: post #134

arrosenberg wrote: post #112

How do you design regulation that holds the giants accountable, doesn't impair smaller companies' ability to enter/innovate in the space, and isn't quickly corruptible by the (well-resourced) companies you are trying to control? We're better served by breaking them up and enforcing and strengthening the pro-competition laws on the books. The government has a pretty mixed record with regulating industry, and a far mor…

My biggest problem is: How do you break up a software system? I understand how you break up a company that mines ore, produces steel, builds railways, runs transportation - those are all separable ventures that can negotiate contracts almost as easily as when they had a single owner. But the tech giants run a single system: Amazon in the delivery, FB in the social graph (DB), Google in the knowledge graph. Those woul…

[deleted]

Re: The world needs more search engines

#207

Post by SllX » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 6:19 PM UTC

I agree with this statement, my default reaction would be to say “build one” but you have.

I’ll give Cliqz the old college try, but I hope you make it a priority to get into the next release of MobileSafari as an option if you’re intent with taking on Google and taking them on seriously.

Here’s a data point of one: my default method of “searching the web” is to start with Search on iOS, what you get when you pull down on the home screen. When the results I want aren’t there, and I can usually anticipate when that will happen, I shift it over to Safari which uses whatever my default is, DuckDuckGo but mainly because I can change my search engine on the fly with them.

I also hope you incorporate the same syntax as DuckDuckGo (if you haven’t already) because to be blunt, every search engine I’ve used in the last few years is terrible. I can’t use just one, and I end up doing a lot of fancy site searches. Not even Google today is as good as Google from 2007-2008.

Re: The world needs more search engines

#208

Post by monstapatty » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 6:19 PM UTC

Ericson2314 wrote: post #67

tziki wrote: post #53

How did such blatant advertisement make it to the top of HN? The article quality here has really been going downhill.

Cause people like the headline and talk about that? :D

Google bad.

Re: The world needs more search engines

#209

Post by __ka » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 6:20 PM UTC

Aeolun wrote: post #203

__ka wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many thanks for the feedback. We'll add the language autodetection for the interface and results this week. There is no profiling taking place. The country is just to select what index you would like results from - we'll try to make the UI better. This is still beta, so please keep on using it and we'd love to hear more feedback [beta@cliqz.com].

I second the need to do some form of detection for language. My browser tells webpages I want results in english (Accept-language header), and this can be safely used to detect what is most appropriate initially. If not that, then at least IP, considering I’m sitting in the US.

Yep, the The Accept-language header seems the most reasonable to go for. Will try to get it out as early as possible.

Re: The world needs more search engines

#210

Post by wolco » Sun, Dec 01, 2019, 6:21 PM UTC

jefftk wrote: post #120

DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the results were made in incognito mode so Google wasn't able to cheat with privileged information about me as a user. that's not what Incognito mode does. It prevents your search from being included in the browsing history and doesn't send cookies from active sessions, but that's about it. Google still knows this is you being unauthenticated. You don't need to be logged into google to be reliably targeted with…

Why do you think Google Search still knows who you are when you search in Incognito mode? (Or, in Firefox, if you open a private browsing window.) How would it know? There are advertising companies that use fingerprinting for ad targeting, but Google doesn't. (Disclosure: I work at Google on ads, speaking only for myself)

google records: ip address, browser fingerprinting.

Try visiting from tor