Live data from Hacker News

Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google

brave.com

31–40 of 45 posts

Re: Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google

#31

Headline is a bit rich, since duckduckgo exists (and Bing/Microsoft if you really stretch it). I get the point though -- duckduckgo doesn't provide a browser. But I'm guessing Brave doesn't provide hosted email service (Gmail), file and document hosting (Google Drive and Docs) so the analogy breaks down either way. That snark being said, I do want more privacy on the web -- so yay Brave!

Do we know if DDG passes through every query on demand, or does it have a caching layer or something where popular queries only hit Microsoft once a day?

Does it matter? If it's proxied through a single API "user", Microsoft can't track individual DDG users, right?

Re: Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private Search [1] works well too. . That said, Brave is an awesome company headed by someone I look up to greatly. I'm definitely optimistic about their search product. [1] https://private.sh/

I disagree with the decisions of Brave. I recently uninstalled the browser on my phone when it kept prompting me to enable crypto wallets and other things I don't care about. I just want a better alternative to Chrome. Brave's obsession with crypto will be the death of them.

> it kept prompting me to enable crypto wallets and other things I don't care about.

I'm sure this will be fixed or can be disabled. I'm confident in Brave's passion toward its mission.

> Brave's obsession with crypto will be the death of them.

I have the opposite thought here. I believe that Brave's pioneering position in crypto will hedge the company front and center as we transition to newer, better internet protocols.

Re: Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google

#34
post #5

Current title "Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google" seems quite misleading since there are plenty of private alternatives to Google (search engine) already ? Especially for english speaking programming and news etc. searches, https://duckduckgo.com is really good.

Brave multiple times has promoted PR with headlines like this, claiming they're the first for something.

They reek of gimmick and that tactic is gross, unauthentic.

Re: Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google

#35
post #34
post #5

Current title "Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google" seems quite misleading since there are plenty of private alternatives to Google (search engine) already ? Especially for english speaking programming and news etc. searches, https://duckduckgo.com is really good.

Brave multiple times has promoted PR with headlines like this, claiming they're the first for something. They reek of gimmick and that tactic is gross, unauthentic.

most aspects of Brave are gross. Their very foundational tech is unethical.

Re: Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google

#36
post #5

Current title "Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google" seems quite misleading since there are plenty of private alternatives to Google (search engine) already ? Especially for english speaking programming and news etc. searches, https://duckduckgo.com is really good.

Private Search [1] works well too. . That said, Brave is an awesome company headed by someone I look up to greatly. I'm definitely optimistic about their search product. [1] https://private.sh/

So do you look up to their misleading claims, you believe someone promoting lies is something to look up to greatly?

Re: Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google

#37
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now owned by an advertisement / tracking company. No thanks.

It's not that bad: https://blog.privacytools.io/relisting-startpage/ .

According to startpage, no. But if there's no difference then why buy it? It's still an anti privacy company owning a so-called privacy company. They should prove they are private with external reviews if they want trust.

Re: Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google

#38
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that bad: https://blog.privacytools.io/relisting-startpage/ .

According to startpage, no. But if there's no difference then why buy it? It's still an anti privacy company owning a so-called privacy company. They should prove they are private with external reviews if they want trust.

With this reasoning, even external review will not help, because the company can change their practices right after the review.

Re: Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google

#39
post #17
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

startpage.com as well.

Now owned by an advertisement / tracking company. No thanks.

DuckDuckGo and Brave are also owned by an ad company. Or do you see that differently?

Re: Brave acquires search engine to offer the first private alternative to Google

#40

Headline is a bit rich, since duckduckgo exists (and Bing/Microsoft if you really stretch it). I get the point though -- duckduckgo doesn't provide a browser. But I'm guessing Brave doesn't provide hosted email service (Gmail), file and document hosting (Google Drive and Docs) so the analogy breaks down either way. That snark being said, I do want more privacy on the web -- so yay Brave!

> duckduckgo doesn't provide a browser

That's not entirely true. They do have a browser for Android and iOS[0]. When I search they frequently show a small pop-up to install it.

[0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/duckduckgo-privacy-browser/id6...

Post reply on HN