Feel like you’re jumping the gun a bit with this opinion. Kagi is one of the best options if you prioritize privacy. Have a closer look at their policies.
Comment on Kagi search engine now has a Fediverse search option.
wittycomputer@feddit.org 1 day ago
The mandatory signing in to perform any search is a deal breaker. Privacy first
ehballah@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Policies can change, they’re for profit, and I’ve heard leadership may be right wing/trumpy but I can’t find clear evidence of it so I want count that against them at this point.
Either way subscriptions are you giving away your identity essentially. They have you, your name, your credit card, your address, your associated searches, there is a lot to consider here more than just “look at what they say.”
TL;DR: A lot of for profit companies say a lot of things. I am not anti-Kagi but you’re being very reductionist and ignoring valid concerns.
betternotbigger@lemmy.world 1 day ago
And if it changes, I will leave and stop paying. They are a user centric model. They thrive because of paying users.
SabinStargem@lemmings.world 1 day ago
This is what their Privacy Pass extension is for. Once it verifies you as an user, it doles out a bunch of generic “arcade tokens”, which don’t have any identifying information. You lose Kagi’s personalization features while using them, but your searches aren’t tied to any account beyond just “Kagi”, so you and everybody else using the privacy extension are the same person.
At least, as I understand it.
LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Yeah someone else told me about that, looks like it was only rolled out a few weeks ago so it might defense it’s pretty new information lol Looks legit though! Absolutely has me reconsidering that concern now.
capital@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
they’re for profit
From my subscription cost, yes. This aligns my privacy goals with their need for income which is not the case for “free” advertising-supported products.
LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 12 hours ago
You can read the myriad of responses/chains this lead to rather than restarting the conversation as if all of this hasn’t been covered. Have a good rest of your weekend
epchris@programming.dev 1 day ago
Hoping to be constructive: how do you think search engines should operate? Or maybe how would you like one you consider “good” to operate?
Album wondering how you see something like Privacy Pass that Kagi announced recently: blog.kagi.com/kagi-privacy-pass
LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
I did not know about privacy pass - that’s a fantastic step. I need to better understand the protocol they’re using but if they truly cannot link my usage to my account and the account strictly exists for (functionally anonymous) payment then I honestly have no notes. That could be enough to assuage most of my concerns.
shortrounddev@lemmy.world 1 day ago
So you won’t pay for a subscription to use a search engine. Do you prefer the model that other search engines use where they take the content of your searches and use it to advertise to you?
LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
I didn’t say anything remotely like you’re accusing me of in your comment. I’m saying making an account is no small thing because you were trivializing it. At no point did I even mention spending money (because that doesn’t bother me).
I introduced nuance to your extremely reduced take and you’re trying to do it again with strawmen directed at me
clove@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Theu don’t verify emails and the CEO has even suggested we can use a random string. Also, you can pay with Bitcoin. No forced KYC anywhere along the way.
jetsetdorito@lemm.ee 1 day ago
They have a system for detaching your account info from searches now
shortrounddev@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It’s because you have to pay for the search engine. They dont serve ads