Help Me Unlove Google

February 13, 2006 7:59 PM

What search engine should I use instead of Google to protest their agreement to provide a censored product for China?

Unfortunately Yahoo and MSN are not options because they are apparently similarly evil.

posted by alms to computers & internet (16 comments total)

Previously asked.
posted by carabiner at 8:01 PM on February 13, 2006

A9 seems to be pretty popular with the 2.0 crowd.
posted by JPowers at 8:03 PM on February 13, 2006

google - every query you make costs them money. Just don't click on any of the ads.
posted by b1tr0t at 8:06 PM on February 13, 2006

As far as the search engine suggestion goes I got nothin. But as far as the "protest" part goes... If you're trying to get your point across wouldn't it be more fruitful to send a letter-to-the-editor voicing your opinion after your local paper prints an article about Google?
posted by blueberry at 8:10 PM on February 13, 2006

Or how about you go through your closet and clear out all of the Made In China labels.

Don't worry about it, the Chinese all use Baidu. This is such a non-issue in China.
posted by geekyguy at 9:20 PM on February 13, 2006

Every major search engine does, at a minimum, what Google does in China. Many of them go even further, and also help China find dissidents (see: Yahoo, MSN).

Basically, your options are to use extraordinarily obscure and fairly terrible search engines, or to follow b1tr0t's suggestion, and continue the one that works best for you, but taking care not to follow any of the ads.
posted by I Love Tacos at 9:22 PM on February 13, 2006

This is such a non-issue in China.

My take on it has been that it's not actually China that's important here, which may seem odd, but there it is.

On-topic: Yahoo consistently delivers better results for Metafilter, for one example, but they're not exactly free from taint in these matters, either.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:34 PM on February 13, 2006

Yes, this was previously discussed, but it never had a great answer.

I've been trying Teoma and MozDEX, and frankly they suck. Everything else seems to be as evil as Google or worse.
posted by krisjohn at 12:11 AM on February 14, 2006

I know this isn't answering your question, but it is certainly relevant to it:

Chinese residents can still use google.com to search the "regular" internet. However this is of limited use as any link that is not behind the Great Chinese Firewall will not work. Google.cn limits the results to pages which are accessible behind the Chinese Firewall. Google is not censoring the internet, they are allowing chinese residents to choose between searching either the already government censored internet (google.cn) or the full internet (google.com).

Google is not pretending China is not censoring the internet, or that it doesn't exist. That is the behavior you are looking for in a company?
posted by aubilenon at 1:28 AM on February 14, 2006

Regarding A9, I believe part of the data it gathers comes from Google (along with Amazon and Alexa) so turning your back on Google in favour of A9 really is a wasted exercise.
posted by a. at 4:21 AM on February 14, 2006

Just use Google and either ignore the ads, or use Adblock and/or the Customize Google extension to remove them. You can also upload some multi-gigabyte attachments to Gmail, if that makes you feel like a big man.
posted by rxrfrx at 5:52 AM on February 14, 2006

I've read both sides, and agree with you that Google's decision to do the Chinese government's censoring for them is wrong. Write to google and tell them so. Say it on your blog. Maybe they'll change.
posted by theora55 at 6:29 AM on February 14, 2006

This and this might help you make a more informed decision.
posted by S.C. at 8:09 AM on February 14, 2006

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Boycott China, not Google.
posted by JJ86 at 9:30 AM on February 14, 2006

ding. If you're such the big man, boycott the Gap, RadioShack and about every other name brand or no name you support by buying Chinese, which in turn supports the Chinese GDP and subsequent administration.
posted by omidius at 10:48 AM on February 14, 2006

Did you notice that the NoLuv4Google link you tried to post has a list of alternatives?

Also, see the comments in this thread.
posted by hindmost at 3:19 PM on February 14, 2006