Google Search is dead to me, so I self-hosted my own private, ad-free, AI-free alternative instead. Here’s everything you need to know about SearXNG.

  • Voxel@feddit.org
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    7 days ago

    I’m questioning the legality of SearXNG, as it scrapes results from other search engines without paying, from my understanding.

    • petrichornetrainfall@piefed.social
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      7 days ago

      It scraps results to the extent that Google scraps results from websites. Google doesnt pay me for including my personal blog in someone’s search results, so why would I pay Google for including them in my SearXNG results.

      Some countries have gone after Google for search summaries, but SearXNG doesnt do that, and they haven’t gone after the other search engines that are closer to being a household name. So I think its safe, legally.

    • perishthethought@piefed.socialOP
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      7 days ago

      Are you suggesting all search engines require payment before returning results? 😧

      Most don’t and those that do won’t allow SearXNG to get results. So I’m not sure what you’re saying here.

      • Voxel@feddit.org
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        7 days ago

        Companies like DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, and StartPage pay Bing and Google to use their search index/API to get search results.

        DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, and StartPage fund themselves through search advertising.

        Brave Search uses its own search index, which they also sell access to, and they fund themselves through search advertising or an optional ad-free premium subscription.

        SearXNG scrapes the search results without providing any monetary value to the search engine providers who are offering the service.

        • XLE@piefed.social
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          7 days ago

          How dare we take what Google has rightfully stolen! That could cause Google to lose money and even go out of business!

          • Voxel@feddit.org
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            7 days ago

            I think you confuse search engines with AI. Search engines are supposed to index, not “steal”. I also questioned the legality, not what your moral compass is saying.