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"The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"

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40hz:
It is possible-kartal (April 11, 2010, 02:40 PM)
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I don't disagree with you that it's possible. I just wonder how probable it would be.

Firefox made into a somewhat stable semi non profit corporation from donations, Wikipedia managed to grew steadily. Although both has started getting massive donations from Google recenty.

If people have managed to write an operating system like Linux on mostly voluntering basis, if people let their cpus run for searching for aliens then it is possible to create an open search engine.

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Very true also, even if the various flavors of Linux, and some of the major FOSS projects,  aren't without their own agendas. Note that not too long ago, Mr. Shuttleworth even made a statement to the effect that Ubuntu's development map was "not a democracy" in response to some well intentioned criticism of certain unilateral design changes Ubuntu was making to the Gnome interface.

But even without getting into that, developing a search technology is further complicated by the fact that it isn't just software that's needed. It also requires a substantial physical "plant" to run it on. And we're talking significant hardware.

Software is essentially free, except for the time invested in getting it written and debugged. Setting up the massive and high-availability server farm needed to provide a workable meta search-spider that can keep up with the growth of the web is an entirely different matter. And hardware expenses, unlike programming time, will almost always have to come out of somebody's pocket.

Then there's the issue of power. Even if all the servers get donated, the electricity certainly won't be. Especially if the utility providers you deal with are anything like they are in the USA.

But that idea you have about building it using a distributed computing model such as the SETI or gene folding project uses - possibly with a query mechanism that works something like a P2P tracker - now THAT is a very very very interesting and powerful idea! Secure too since the actual search database would not be in any one place thereby making it exceptionally resilient.

I haven't heard anybody else propose going in that direction. If that's your own idea, it's a pretty awesome one.  And it could very well be worth pursuing.

Bravo!` :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:

Maybe you could do up a white paper on how you envision it might work and get it out to the FOSS community? It just might get some traction with that crowd.

kartal:
To me there is only one real short term solution and that is an open source, distributed, uncontrolled, non tracking, open search engine. A search engine that does not keep massive database about visitors, a search engine that does not do anything else beside seaching. Sure enough this search engine should never be controlled by anyone or anything. And if you think that this is tinfoil hat thinking and it is an unreasonable paranoia solution then I really do not have much else to contribute to conversation.
-kartal (April 11, 2010, 02:14 PM)
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Yes, but being open means open to all the spammers to see the code as well, and that leaves them free to manipulate things externally to get better ranking on your open search engine. It would quickly become worthless and poisoned by massive amounts of spam. No control puts the blackhat SEO spammers in full control.
-app103 (April 11, 2010, 03:03 PM)
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I think that merits of an open distributed search engine is way bigger than some rotten people`s attempt to make easy money

kartal:
40hz

I was actually thinking that P2P could be the model for  sharing secure data between the computers while the computers themselves also donate cpu time for indexing.

Everything is possible the question is "do we have the vision ?".

I just think that searching information should not be a profit model but unfortunately it has turned into the most profitable business that is going head to head with oil business

app103:
I think that merits of an open distributed search engine is way bigger than some rotten people`s attempt to make easy money
-kartal (April 11, 2010, 03:13 PM)
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I am not disagreeing with the merits, but being open and nobody in control, how would you stop the spammers from taking over? Every change you make to the code to defeat the spammers would be countered by them knowing what you did and how to get around it. It would be a constant game of cat & mouse, magnified many times greater than the spam issues Google has to deal with every day. Part of what keeps Google ahead of the game is the fact that the blackhat SEO spammers can only guess at how it all works...they can't see and know for sure.

Tuxman:
The topic's quote is the reason why all of my browsers are filtering any Google content...

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