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google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update

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Re: google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update

#102

As much as I am sad that Google died like 15 years ago, I am past the mourning phase. That was when they announced they were shifting from returning websites to "returning answers" and it has been a long slide into shittification I do enjoy using their free AI. For actual web search I actually like using Yandex. It reminds me of old Google, returning reasonable results and much less "shaping results to please our cor…

>I do enjoy using their free AI

It's really not free. You're paying with your data.

Re: google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update

#103
post #94

As much as I am sad that Google died like 15 years ago, I am past the mourning phase. That was when they announced they were shifting from returning websites to "returning answers" and it has been a long slide into shittification I do enjoy using their free AI. For actual web search I actually like using Yandex. It reminds me of old Google, returning reasonable results and much less "shaping results to please our cor…

> Yandex. It reminds me of old Google, returning reasonable results and much less "shaping results to please our corpo-political masters". As long as you don't search anything related to Russia itself, or to Russian interests elsewhere (like their invasion of Ukraine). Then it's very heavily biased, priority is given to state ran propaganda mills, independent media is hidden from results, etc. And before anyone start…

Any proof of that? I’ve always found Yandex to be substandard but never for reasons of censorship.

Re: google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update

#104

Can someone explain why this matters? Not being flippant I just don’t understand why this would be important.

It's primarily relevant because it makes scraping search results much more expensive, solidifying Google's effective monopoly on Internet search. Google has previously tried to prevent scraping of search results using legal means, but courts correctly think that scraping of Google's search results should be legal, just as Google's scraping of the whole Internet is legal. This is Google's reaction to that.

This is the best explanation. They’ve been doing the same in Google News. Each entry comes not with a URL to the source, but with a hash. To resolve it, you must send requests to Google’s servers. Anyone who wants to create a list of URLs of sources automatically can therefore be blocked by Google now on two levels rather than one - the search for a list of results, and identifying the source URL for each result.

In effect, they’re removing attribution from the content they quote from other people’s websites. It would be interesting to see if courts object to that. It is one thing to crawl other people’s websites and display snippets of their work as your search results when each result is properly and transparently attributed. But if the text is quoted and the source is not there alongside it in plaintext, replaced only by a vague promise that, if you ask, we may or may not tell you where this piece of content is from, that is a very different deal.

Re: google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update

#105
post #95
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are still illegal streaming sports and movie sites everywhere (who knew) and all other seedy corners of the internet that have been neatly erased by Google This is such a strange position to take. Apple doesnt allow all sorts of apps on the appstore, but that is never said as "Apple is erasing illegal streaming". Google is simply not showing the results. They are not taking down, or banning, or doing anything…

The pain being made is: If you use a search engine as your eyes to see what exists “on the internet”, then, absolutely, whatever Google hides from its results or fails to index is “erased” from “your” experience of the internet.

I see piracy sites just fine on Google. Almost always the top result. That's why I go there to find the next domain after a previously working one gets shut down.

Re: google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update

#107
post #89

As much as I am sad that Google died like 15 years ago, I am past the mourning phase. That was when they announced they were shifting from returning websites to "returning answers" and it has been a long slide into shittification I do enjoy using their free AI. For actual web search I actually like using Yandex. It reminds me of old Google, returning reasonable results and much less "shaping results to please our cor…

> There are still illegal streaming sports and movie sites everywhere (who knew) and all other seedy corners of the internet that have been neatly erased by Google This is such a strange position to take. Apple doesnt allow all sorts of apps on the appstore, but that is never said as "Apple is erasing illegal streaming". Google is simply not showing the results. They are not taking down, or banning, or doing anything…

If the companies weren't trying to destroy trust and take everything away from everyone these things would never have much traction but now they deserve to have more than ever.

Re: google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update

#108
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

JavaScript being disabled - Google was already sending analytics pings when search result links were clicked on, using JS.

JavaScript is required to use Google search at all, no?

Oh that is true, I forgot they changed that.

Re: google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update

#109
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yandex. It reminds me of old Google, returning reasonable results and much less "shaping results to please our corpo-political masters". As long as you don't search anything related to Russia itself, or to Russian interests elsewhere (like their invasion of Ukraine). Then it's very heavily biased, priority is given to state ran propaganda mills, independent media is hidden from results, etc. And before anyone start…

Any proof of that? I’ve always found Yandex to be substandard but never for reasons of censorship.

Yep, plenty, and tbf it's entirely logical. The people working at Yandex do not want find themselves dying of a nerve agent or polonium, which is a real and acute danger for people who displease the ruling regime.

https://hal.science/hal-03217497

https://euvsdisinfo.eu/yandex-from-tech-innovation-to-inform...

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10130930/

https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/a-story-of-non...

Re: google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update

#110

As much as I am sad that Google died like 15 years ago, I am past the mourning phase. That was when they announced they were shifting from returning websites to "returning answers" and it has been a long slide into shittification I do enjoy using their free AI. For actual web search I actually like using Yandex. It reminds me of old Google, returning reasonable results and much less "shaping results to please our cor…

The real "old-school Google, but modern" is Kagi, with the caveat of being paid. (Worth the $5 for me.)

But LLMs can be commanded. This is may bookmark alias for invoking the spirit of old Gog=ogle from within the new, AI-based Google:

https://google.com/search?q=You%20are%20Google%20Search%20fr...

(Cleaned / decoded: 'You are Google Search from 2004. Given a search request, provide 10 links to relevant pages, each with a short text from the page, featuring the search terms. Avoid any pages that do not contain the search terms. the search request: %s')

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