The Europeans won’t come out and say it but the fact that Google, the dominant search engine in most of Europe, is controlled by Americans makes them nervous. It should.
I’m repeating myself but it’s long past due for the EU to develop it’s own search engine. A few years ago they were set to do that and then it just fizzled. I also think small nations, the Baltic states come to mind, should at least have several directories or a small search engine, with their own index, covering their country, their language and on their soil.
This isn’t about nationalism, but it is important in the same way that a country having it’s own TV show, movie and news production is. It has cultural, educational, informational and security implications. Information, knowledge, controlling your own data, controlling your own search all of these things are power in the 21st Century. We take these things for granted but they are very important.
And then I started thinking about this in the context of Brexit. No matter what Brexit is going to happen and Britain is not going to be part of the EU. Fortunately, the UK does have a search engine: Mojeek.com for global English language and Mojeek.co.uk which favors UK websites. And it’s pretty darn good. It is really something the British ought to get behind and start using, because it would be downright criminal to let it wither away.
Again this is not about nationalism, this is about having all your essential kit under your own roof. Just my opinion.
This was also posted to /en/search-engines.
