• SSTF
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    929 days ago

    Can you elaborate on the business model of a search engine that has no ads?

    • @alphabethunter
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      628 days ago

      Let’s not make them a business. Search Engines are fundamental core services for the modern globalized and connected world. It’s just like your post-office service. Make it an internationally owned and funded non-profit organization with open-source and the goal of enabling the unrestricted sharing of knowledge over the internet.

      • SSTF
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        228 days ago

        What does the creation of a multi-national state owned search engine have to do with Google? I presume nations have the resources to do that all on their own.

        What would you suggest the Google search engine be allowed to do to profit as a business?

        • @alphabethunter
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          127 days ago

          There’s no suggestion. There is currently no way a search engine can be a viable modern business model and a good tool at the same time. It could potentially be a good business model and a decent tool even with ads, but only in a world where we accept that things can’t grow forever.

    • @[email protected]
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      629 days ago

      The only business model that really works is charging people to use it, like Kagi is doing.

      • @UnderpantsWeevil
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        429 days ago

        like Kagi is doing

        I haven’t seen much to suggest Kagi’s results are better than Google’s. But that’s as much a function of time and horsepower as anything.

        I would argue that the private model is what’s fundamentally wrong with modern search. Nationalize Google and make it a public utility, like any public library or publicly financed research institution. Open up the front end source code and let people apply their own filters and modifications, rather than locking everything down to force feed you sponsored content.

        That’s the only real way to fix search.

        • @[email protected]
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          429 days ago

          Nationalize Google and make it a public utility, like any public library or publicly financed research institution.

          This would be great. Running a search engine is very expensive though.

          The Internet Archive is probably the closest thing we’ve got to something like this. It’s a non-profit but AFAIK they don’t get any government funding. They’ve got the scrapers and could probably work on a search engine project, but I doubt they could afford it in their current state. They’re spending a lot of money at the moment due to companies filing lawsuits about Internet Archive archiving their content (and a bunch of content is gone from the archive forever as a result

          • @UnderpantsWeevil
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            429 days ago

            Running a search engine is very expensive though.

            The federal government spends about $1.3B a year on advertising and another $37.5B on data collection, with Google being a major recipient of both budgets. Nationalization would save a small fortune.

            And for the economic tailwinds that efficient Internet research provides, I’m willing to bet we’d see significant economic benefits that eclipse the base cost, not unlike with Amtrak or the USPS.

            The Internet Archive is probably the closest thing we’ve got to something like this.

            Them and Wikipedia, definitely. Both make for excellent models of non-profit free-at-point-of-use information services.

        • @[email protected]
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          -328 days ago

          Yeah, let’s see how much worse corrupt bureaucrats can make this already rotten turd of a product!

          • @UnderpantsWeevil
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            -128 days ago

            Not trusting the EPA because Exxon has done such an awful job.

      • SSTF
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        329 days ago

        I get the feeling a lot of people would complain about Google search doing that too.