Brave Privacy-Centric Search Arrives
July 5, 2021
Several online services that emphasize privacy have emerged in recent years, including the Brave browser. The San Francisco-based company is not stopping there. We learn from TechCrunch that “Brave’s Nontracking Search Engine is Now in Beta.” Earlier this year, Brave acquired Cliqz, a company which had developed an anti-tracking browser with its own search platform. That system’s Tailcat technology will underpin Brave Search. The company also offers Brave Ads, a way to make money while preserving users’ privacy. Brave is different from other non-tracking Google alternatives like DuckDuckGo because it is using its own, independent index. Reporter Natasha Lomas writes:
“Brave touts its eponymous search offering as having a number of differentiating features versus rivals (including smaller rivals) — such as its own index, which it also says gives it independence from other search providers. Why is having an independent index important? We put that question to Josep M. Pujol, chief of search at Brave, who told us: ‘… More choices will entail more freedom and also get back to real competition, with checks and balances. Choice can only be achieved by being independent, as if we do not have our own index, then we are just a layer of paint on top of Google and Bing, unable to change much or anything` in the results for users’ queries. Not having your own index, as with certain search engines, gives the impression of choice, but in reality such engine “skins’” are the same players as the big-two. Only by building our own index, which is a costly proposition, will we be in a position to offer true choice to the users for the benefit of all, whether they are Brave Search users or not.’”
It should be noted that for certain functions, like image searches, Brave currently relies on other search providers to ensure relevant results. For now. Otherwise it turns to anonymized community contributions to refine its index’s results and will soon provide “community-curated open ranking models” in an effort to combat censorship and AI bias. The company plans to offer both a free option supported by ads and a paid, ad-free version we are told will be “affordable.”
We are running test queries, and the results are promising. There are other services becoming available too. I like Swisscows.ch. But I like cows.
Let us hope Brave’s efforts result in an index that is better than what has gone before. The increasing number of search options is a signal that Google search has failed in its basic mission. The problem is that millions don’t know what they are missing. Undisclosed omissions and obfuscated distortions are worse than guessing or asking friends.
Cynthia Murrell, July 5, 2021
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