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Why we're saying no to Google

blog.ecosia.org

1–10 of 92 posts

Re: Why we're saying no to Google

#2
This sounds like 'I want money by being "not google" and thus people have to like me'.

The linked website doesn't point to anything else but that they're allegedly planting trees for (an unknown percentage of the money collected by) showing ads to users. Which is nice, but if you want that I support tree planting initiatives explicitly (which I do), why don't you just encourage someone doing just that, maybe by pointing out sites which actually encourage to do that, like https://www.plant-for-the-planet.org?

Re: Why we're saying no to Google

#4
> By artificially limiting user options, Google is creating scarcity where there is none.

Does this refer to only the default selections screen, or will users be unable to choose a search provider that doesn't participate in the auction? I.e. there's no "other" option to type in a URL?

Re: Why we're saying no to Google

#5
post #4

> By artificially limiting user options, Google is creating scarcity where there is none. Does this refer to only the default selections screen, or will users be unable to choose a search provider that doesn't participate in the auction? I.e. there's no "other" option to type in a URL?

This entire blog post reads pretty terribly to me. It's yet another bing search result 'reseller' with no real pros to using it..

Users can still just choose the engine they want elsewhere. This appears to be first-launch only. Doesn't affect Firefox from the Play store either.

Re: Why we're saying no to Google

#6

This sounds like 'I want money by being "not google" and thus people have to like me'. The linked website doesn't point to anything else but that they're allegedly planting trees for (an unknown percentage of the money collected by) showing ads to users. Which is nice, but if you want that I support tree planting initiatives explicitly (which I do), why don't you just encourage someone doing just that, maybe by point…

The ongoing attacks on Google are crazy to me. Google has done wonders for all of us - remember how terrible search engines used to be? Do you remember how terrible email was before Gmail? How awful MapQuest was before Google maps?

In my opinion these attacks are a paid PR driven distraction from the truly evil actors in the world - see the losses of freedom for people in Hong Kong or citizens of Russia who been imprisoned or killed.

When will hacker news end together to fight true evil instead of minor infractions?

Re: Why we're saying no to Google

#7
post #6

This sounds like 'I want money by being "not google" and thus people have to like me'. The linked website doesn't point to anything else but that they're allegedly planting trees for (an unknown percentage of the money collected by) showing ads to users. Which is nice, but if you want that I support tree planting initiatives explicitly (which I do), why don't you just encourage someone doing just that, maybe by point…

The ongoing attacks on Google are crazy to me. Google has done wonders for all of us - remember how terrible search engines used to be? Do you remember how terrible email was before Gmail? How awful MapQuest was before Google maps? In my opinion these attacks are a paid PR driven distraction from the truly evil actors in the world - see the losses of freedom for people in Hong Kong or citizens of Russia who been impr…

Do you remember how terrible email was before Gmail? How awful MapQuest was before Google maps?

Those aren't the reason why some people are down on Google. The damage that they're doing to the public discourse is one of the things that concerns people.

Re: Why we're saying no to Google

#8

This sounds like 'I want money by being "not google" and thus people have to like me'. The linked website doesn't point to anything else but that they're allegedly planting trees for (an unknown percentage of the money collected by) showing ads to users. Which is nice, but if you want that I support tree planting initiatives explicitly (which I do), why don't you just encourage someone doing just that, maybe by point…

I have a bunch of odd questions.

For example, "Our servers run on 100% renewable energy, and every search request removes 1kg of CO2 from the atmosphere."

As far as I can tell it's on AWS and Cloudflare/Ghost hosted blog. It acts and feels like a Bing proxy with Bing ads with really nothing else, but they say they have 34 full time salaried employees? I'm super confused.

Re: Why we're saying no to Google

#9
post #6

This sounds like 'I want money by being "not google" and thus people have to like me'. The linked website doesn't point to anything else but that they're allegedly planting trees for (an unknown percentage of the money collected by) showing ads to users. Which is nice, but if you want that I support tree planting initiatives explicitly (which I do), why don't you just encourage someone doing just that, maybe by point…

The ongoing attacks on Google are crazy to me. Google has done wonders for all of us - remember how terrible search engines used to be? Do you remember how terrible email was before Gmail? How awful MapQuest was before Google maps? In my opinion these attacks are a paid PR driven distraction from the truly evil actors in the world - see the losses of freedom for people in Hong Kong or citizens of Russia who been impr…

This is such a strange comment. Just because Google makes a good product - like Google Maps - means we should overlook search manipulation, rampant privacy violations, etc.?

It's baffling.

Re: Why we're saying no to Google

#10
post #3

This behaviour of Google shows that the fines of the EU are still not high enough.

It shows me to me that the EC shouldn’t have meddled to begin with. Android is free but Google isn’t providing it out of the goodness of its heart. If it can’t recoup its costs from offering the Google suite of apps (including search), then Android will be monetized by other search engines paying to be included in the options. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
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