Many “alternative” search engines are better for privacy, but they are still vulnerable to censorship, because they rely on g**gle and m*crosoft’s indices for their search results. This isn’t a deep-hidden secret either, many of them disclose what search index they use on the “about” page, for example:

There are still search engines that (claim to) maintain their own index. Most surprisingly, br*ve:

  • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    591·
    10 months ago

    I had a high school friend shill me brave because he worked there. Was genuinely into all the tech bro stuff and gold. So much gold. I used it for maybe 2 weeks before I got tired of the crypto. I should thank him though, that pushed me into FOSSland.

    • douglasg14b@lemmy.world
      26·
      10 months ago

      I’ve been spelling this for years…

      Why would you trust a browser whose business model is based on user activity tracking.

      Who before they were even remotely popular or profitable had one of the largest ad campaigns I’ve ever seen for a tech product. Who’s funding that and where is their value proposition coming from for that funding?

      Hell no I’m not going to trust it

      • markon@lemmy.world
        36·
        10 months ago

        I’m finding Copilot better than any search and better than buying by itself and world’s better than Google search, but it’s totally not private… So anything you seem sensitive or private you just can’t use it for

        • Doug7070@lemmy.worldEnglish
          201·
          10 months ago

          LLM powered search is so great, if it can’t find the information you’re looking for it will just make up random bullshit for you! And all it costs is Microsoft looming over your shoulder to datamine and sell everything you ever do!

    • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
      18·
      10 months ago

      In part, yes. Here’s a document explaining it all. In short, they use many different source, of which Bing is one. However when they query for data on those services, there’s no personally identifiable information shared, so they can’t create profiles about you.

      • NewDay@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        8 months ago

        Unfortunately, this map isn’t accurate anymore. For example it says that Startpage only uses Google search results but that’s outdated. Now Startpage uses Bing and Google search results. https://www.startpage.com/privacy-please/startpage-articles/enhanced-search-results-on-startpage ‘In working with Microsoft, Startpage is now incorporating Microsoft Bing search results and ads within some results pages, using a custom-built private search solution. Google search results will continue to broadly be used, but incorporating additional high-quality sources will have ongoing returns for our users’

  • fin@sh.itjust.works
    261·
    10 months ago

    Still Privacy >> Censorship. If the search engine is privacy-friendly then we can talk about censorship. No brave bullshit

    And this should be discussed on [email protected]

  • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
    11·
    10 months ago

    Worse are subtle manipulations imho. There are scientific experiments showing that changing the order of search results can alter how people vote. How much outside of the spectrum suppressed because it doesn’t sell as well? Who knows!

  • Kodama@lemmy.world
    3·
    10 months ago

    These are private companies that are govern and controlled by commercial incentives. And are in their all right to do so. The users are always free to change service.

    But as always, conviniance beats everything. Most people don’t care or are not ready to go back. E.g. use mp3s and manually upload files to choosen device or if even supported. aux contact that was removed. Music and movie resolution loss due to streaming most people don’t care… They are frustrated when the airpod doesn’t work with Android device accept the situation and go along with their lives. Most western people download their games and do not think for a second that all games are useless when an new device is announced and the company can resell same game again even thought if thought from design to be back compatible.

    Censorship are applicable for governments enforcing laws and regulations that impact what you are allowed to do or say which in many parts of the world unconstitutional. If people even put an ounce of energy to complain on their governmentns that they do on companies we would live in a better world.