I recently (as in just now) bought a month of the Kagi Search engine to give it a whirl. THEN I heard they use Yandex which is Russian and well… Russia and Ukraine. Any truth to this?

  • ᥫ᭡ 𐑖ミꪜᴵ𝔦 ᥫ᭡@feddit.orgEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Like ~95% of the rest of the internet that uses cloud infrastructure

    Citation needed for research purposes.

    What is your point?

    My point is that they claim they are private, yet they rely on Google, if you use Google anything ( AdSense, Analytics, Fonts… Etc ), you become Google

    Same thing with relying on Gmail or Outlook, or some kind of proprietary Ticketing system… Spoiler alert many of these so called privacy companies make those mistakes, including the mistake of being proprietary themselves

    • teotwaki@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      I’m someone who builds cloud infrastructure for a living. I only touch AWS (Amazon), but the same applies to Azure (Microsoft) and GCP (Google).

      Kagi is private. Saying that they “rely” on Google because they use GCP is akin to saying that the US Army relies on General Motors because they use Hummers. It’s just a provider. They’re renting virtual machines, compute power, storage, and network bandwidth nothing more. You can use GCP/Azure/AWS without your data ever being visible by GCP/Azure/AWS. It’s not because you use GCP that you have to use AdSense/Analytics/Fonts, etc. They are completely separate.

      Politicians would have a field day with all the cloud providers if using one thing forced you to use everything.

      • ᥫ᭡ 𐑖ミꪜᴵ𝔦 ᥫ᭡@feddit.orgEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        So you’re saying it’s ok to trust those cloud providers, who also happen to build surveillance technology for governments, by a company that presents itself as the private / anti big tech / anti enshitification search engine.

        the worst part is that Big tech is getting paid as well.

        Kagi is private

        maybe, it depends on who you’re talking to, they say it’s because it’s a paid service, that you need an Account, but remember the moment you sign up and give any piece of info, you’re linked… I don’t want my search queries linked EVER, so privacy is not enough

        Now they did try to remedy these flaws by allowing Virtual “Anonymous” Credit cards, but this service is only available in the US, so whatever…

        So we’re left with the only option that could work, Cryptocurrency… And after an extensive research they settled for the least ( if at all ) anonymous coin, Bitcoin… well it can be anonymous but try to do that and you’ll be charged with money laundering or Tax evasion ( in the US ) so you’re linked one way or the other ( especially if you live in the US )

        It’s not because you use GCP that you have to use AdSense/Analytics/Fonts, etc. They are completely separate

        I know, it’s just an example

        • capital@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          So you’re saying it’s ok to trust those cloud providers

          What kind of trust are you referring to? I trust that they take great pains to protect their cloud customer’s data. CGP is not Google Search is not Google advertising.

          Do I trust them to do the right thing environmentally? No. Geopolitically? No. But let’s not get these all confused. They do support surveillance tech but surreptitiously mining their cloud customer’s data has the potential to sink their entire business overnight.

    • roofuskit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Microsoft, Google and Amazon wouldn’t have cloud infrastructure businesses if they were snooping on clients.

      Educate yourself even a little bit before taking a stance like this.