cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/37022178
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Logan Kilpatrick, lead product manager for Google DeepMind, Gemini, and all AI products at Google, said Google AI Mode will be the default for Google Search “soon.” He said this after Google made google.com/ai go directly to AI Mode’s interface on Friday afternoon.
this is why i use ddg; i just wish there was a way to make a ublock filter to consistently hide “search assist”. i can disable it in my logged in sessions but when i search in a private window it comes back and they obfuscate their css classes so i can’t target it :/
yes, make your search worse so it’s easier to switch
Man, if I had used Google as a search engine in the past decade, that might have really pissed me off.
What’s the best alternative for Google?
I use Qwant since a half year and pretty happy with it. I don’t know if it’s the best, but it does the work for me.
people always suggest alternatives that pull from google or similar, so a reminder google is on the BDS list
https://bdsmovement.net/no-tech-oppression-apartheid-or-genocide
I dont know much about it but I’ve been using yandex a lot, and searching websites directly
Yandex is supported by the fascist, imperialist Russian mafia state.
I’d recommend self-hosted SearXNG instead.
And what search engines do you enable/disable in SearXNG?
SearXNG is one of those “alternatives that pull from google or similar”, which is what @manuallybreathing@lemmy.ml wanted to avoid.
Depends on your threat model. Generally, whichever country can harm you most, (eg. your residence country, or a privacy-disrespecting one like the USA and China), are to watch out for. Remove those.
And in case you’re forced to still pick one of either… have burner phones, focused each on a different country. So if your threat is the US, go for China, and vice versa. After all, the US hates China, and vice versa. So if you’re looking up stuff that would be illegal in the US but legal in China, that would best be done on a burner for China; after all, China supports enemies of the USA. And vice versa.
Personally I’d say the following ones would be (relatively) good. Good as well is to reduce dependency on a single country, and to compartmentalise your searches. Use a paid VPN and a privacy-respecting browser like LibreWolf.
- Anything obscure that isn’t ultimately owned/followed by the US or China.
- YaCy
- Qwant
- Ecosia
- Mojeek
- Exalead
- Presearch
The more you spread it, the better. Also a good tip, be active at different hours. Not always afternoon, or whatever. Watch your user agent and try to combat deep packet inspection.
Yandex is Russian
The nearest in results is Startpage, it use the Google base but without logging, tracking and other crap, uses proxie. Andisearch, if you want a reliable and really private search with AI, free to use, no account, no cookies, nor logs or trackings, random proxie and sandboxed searches. Kagi is also good, but isn’t free (limited searches in free version and need an account, which by definition isn’t very private). Mojeek is also a good alternative from the EU, like also MetaGer (multiengine from Germany)
Mojeek is British, not EU. But it’s good privacy wise.
For a Startpage alternative, Qwant exists (which is very good). But it’s not as good for privacy.
Well, Andisearch is from an Californian startup, but I use it because its strong active privacy protection, full GDPR compliant, apart of their clear statement against the surveillance capitalism and biased AI’s from big corporations. Because this it’s the exeption for me to use also an US service, also because accurate results with sources.
… We’re a small team of two founders (Angela and Jed) and some friends. We’re on a mission to unbreak the Internet and save the world from spam, misinformation and ad tech.
Search is broken because of misinformation, SEO spam and ads, and surveillance capitalism. It hasn’t changed in 20 years. Things are getting worse. The rise of GPT-based chatbots that confidently generate accurate-sounding “BS” with made-up sources is driving misinformation through the roof.
And the CLOUD act then? Doesn’t the US require a backdoor for a lot of stuff?
I’m paranoid of the fascists.
Yes, with good reasons, but if there are not logged or stored cloud data or only user site ee2e encrypted one, this Backdoor lead to nothing or even only to encrypted data, nothing else apart of an raised middle finger. Searches with Andi are not even stored in your browser history, there only appears that you used Andi for search, but not what.
There are no good reasons for pervasive government surveillance. Especially not without a warrant. Fuck that shit. It’s all about control.
Only exist one valid reason for gov surveillance, as in the EU in a crime investigation, the only manner that they are alowwed to access the data of an user with an court order. Mass surveillance is illegal. This in the EU, but the problem is that the US and the UK are not the EU, and their user don’t have this protection if it isn’t protected by the app they use (encrypted, no knowledge tech).
SearXNG it can pull from multiple search engines you can use Google and stuff in it, but it anonymizes your queries I use it and the results are so fucking great
I use Kagi’s AI search for things that are “unGooglable”, but you explicitly have to turn that on by adding a question mark to the end of the query. Otherwise, I use its standard search.
It does take a little bit longer to get answers, but there’s value in the struggle. I don’t want to become a braindead AI repeater.
Glad that I no longer use them.
