Comments on: Help Me Unlove Google

Question: Help Me Unlove Google

alms — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:59:08 -0800

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.

By: carabiner

carabiner — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 20:01:52 -0800

Previously asked.

By: JPowers

JPowers — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 20:03:52 -0800

A9 seems to be pretty popular with the 2.0 crowd.

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 20:06:50 -0800

google - every query you make costs them money. Just don't click on any of the ads.

By: blueberry

blueberry — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 20:10:28 -0800

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?

By: geekyguy

geekyguy — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:20:46 -0800

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.

By: I Love Tacos

I Love Tacos — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:22:53 -0800

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.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:34:41 -0800

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.

By: krisjohn

krisjohn — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 00:11:13 -0800

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.

By: aubilenon

aubilenon — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 01:28:23 -0800

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?

By: a.

a. — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 04:21:28 -0800

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.

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 05:52:17 -0800

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.

By: theora55

theora55 — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 06:29:10 -0800

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.

By: S.C.

S.C. — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 08:09:55 -0800

This and this might help you make a more informed decision.

By: JJ86

JJ86 — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 09:30:10 -0800

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Boycott China, not Google.

By: omidius

omidius — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 10:48:25 -0800

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.

By: hindmost

hindmost — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 15:19:02 -0800

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

Also, see the comments in this thread.