mariafarrell1d ago

RE: https://mastodon.social/@SteveRudolfi/116279083767770070

If one definition of evil is its wanton destruction of everything that is good and whole in the world, then Google is an active agent of evil.

It is setting out to destroy the world wide web and steal the livelihood of everyone who builds and depends on the web.

I honestly don't know how to mobilise normies to care about and stop this evil. It probably seems too niche and incremental until it's too late.

Oh yeah, and in the UK an ex-Google exec is now running the BBC. . .

Show threadStage name Jay Peach1d ago
@mariafarrell FUCK GOOGLE! Use another search engine!
Show threadmariafarrell1d ago
@jaypeach53 I (have the means to) pay for Kagi and I really love it.
Show threadStage name Jay Peach1d ago
@mariafarrell idk, I use DuckDuckGo despite them using Bing data. Have been using DDG for about 5 years now. Started weaning myself off Google when they dropped the “Don’t Be Evil” motto. What’s a good video platform in the fediverse? YouTube is next.
Show threadmariafarrell

@jaypeach53 yes, I used ddg myself for a few years before switching largely to kagi. like you I don't love the bing connection but it's a decent free search engine, though now annoyingly you have to constantly repeat that you don't want AI "summaries", every few searches.

for non-youtube video, I can't remember just now the good alternatives, blame my middle-aged post-covid brain! but follow @_elena who's great on them (and much more).

Mar 24 at 11:37amWeb
Show threadJean-Sébastien Guay1d ago

@mariafarrell @jaypeach53 @_elena

Chiming in to say, there's a "no ai" version of DuckDuckGo. How long they'll keep it, no one knows, but you can set it up as a custom search engine and use it by default then.

Search string URL: https: // noai.duckduckgo.com /%s

Search suggestion API (optional): https: // ac.duckduckgo.com /ac/?q==%s&type=list

(remove spaces)

Show threadElena Rossini ⁂1d ago
@mariafarrell @jaypeach53 PeerTube maybe? Their search engine is here: https://sepiasearch.org
Sepia Search

A search engine of PeerTube videos, channels and playlists, developed by Framasoft

Sepia Search
Show threadMastodon Migration1d ago

@_elena @mariafarrell @jaypeach53

Feel like with no-AI DDG and Kagi you can live without Google search, but YouTube is a huge problem. There is just no other scale video alternative that isn't worse (TicTok, IG), so whenever they decide to move aggressively they can really lock down video comms. It is a major risk.

Already, you are asked to 'login' if you use annonymous browsers and VPNs. YouTube is a really big problem.

Show threadcwicseolfor1d ago
@mariafarrell @jaypeach53 @_elena Even paid users have to tell Kagi “no ai” over and over??! That feels like it would invalidate the whole value prop to me. (Or maybe I’m flashing back to “wait, why pay for fancy channels on cable only to have to sit through commercials,” because I’m just old enough for that.)
Show threadKathmandu1d ago

@cwicseolfor @mariafarrell @jaypeach53 @_elena

I put links on my browsers to noai.duckduckgo.com and that's saved me a lot of annoyance.

Show threadcwicseolfor17h ago
@Kathmandu I set the no-AI DDG as my default browser on everything (technically still using Firefox mostly but attending manually to the about:config, but that may change.)
@mariafarrell Unsure if you’re still using DDG at all but if so that may be the way to avoid seeing any AI suggestions.
@jaypeach53 @_elena
Show threadmariafarrell9h ago

@cwicseolfor ha, that's too funny as I've been <on the point of> switching from firefox to the ddg browser a few times, though keep being put off by - I may be out of date, here - the fact that WebView only uses Chrome/Chromium?

If you've given this some thought I'd appreciate your view.

Show threadmariafarrell1d ago
@cwicseolfor no, if memory serves, kagi is ok about accepting my no-ai summary preference definitively. it's duckduckgo that is not.