Readit NewsRegarding "zeitgeist", about a year ago I built something similar called https://zeitgaist.ai which also incorporates other sources like Mastodon, Bluesky, some subreddits etc.
Since you are interested in cryptography, there is a discussion on Kagi feedback site along the same lines as your idea, about possible ways to achieve this without the need for cryptocurrency. [2]
[1] https://blog.kagi.com/accepting-paypal-bitcoin
[2] https://kagifeedback.org/d/653-completely-anonymous-searches...
Also, I found this link [1] in the thread you mentioned. They seem to have implemented something like that.
You have to understand that most of us aren't fighting some battle for "perfect privacy," I just want a search engine that works for me, rather than advertisers, at the level of the search results themselves.
But it's also about digital data autonomy. It's not just about avoiding surveillance over sensitive searches, but having control over our data's destiny. Even mundane data, in aggregate, can sometimes be used in ways we can't predict.
There's only one solution, and that is that you need to put a bit of trust in Kagi. Compared to the major one, Google, you can chose between one that promises to not store data, and one that promises it does (and does a lot).
It's always a bit sad that here on HN, when companies try to do better than bigger players, there's always people who think it isn't enough. It has to be absolutely impossibly perfect.
You can use search engines like Google without being logged in. When combined with tools like uBlock Origin and Cookie AutoDelete, it becomes more challenging for them to build a singular profile about a user, especially one tied to payment methods such as credit cards.
I genuinely appreciate what Kagi is doing, and I'd absolutely be willing to pay for their service, because if you're not paying for a service, you're the product. I trust companies to uphold their privacy promises, but "Trust is good, but proof is better." ;)
I hope Kagi introduces an anonymous access feature. For instance, it could incorporate zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). These are cryptographic techniques where one party (the prover) can confirm to another (the verifier) that a claim is accurate without disclosing any additional information. This is especially beneficial for authentication scenarios where it's essential to avoid sharing extra details.
To implement zero-knowledge authentication for quota API access:
1. Token Creation:
- Each month, users receive a token tied to their identity and quota.
- The token can be split for use on multiple devices using cryptographic methods.
2. API Access:
- Clients present a zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) to confirm they have a valid token and haven't used up their quota. The server verifies this without seeing the exact details.
3. Client Synchronization:
- Each client tracks its quota usage.
- Synchronization can be peer-to-peer or through a centralized, encrypted server to prevent double spending of the quota.
4. Quota Renewal:
- Monthly, old tokens expire, and new tokens are issued.
Challenges:
- ZKPs can be resource-intensive.
- Token security is crucial; there should be a way to handle lost or compromised tokens.
- The system should prevent quota "double-spending" across devices.
- If a centralized server is used for synchronization, it should operate with encrypted data.
This way Kagi would only know who their customers are but not what kind of searches they make.
Yes. In a few ways it’s considerably worse. Your website is referencing major world events, including war and freedom of press, by leveraging uninformed comments from the web (many of them themselves written by AI). That would be a problem even if your content weren’t auto-generated (random comments don’t make good or accurate journalism) but it’s worse when it’s churned at a high rate and introduces its own false interpretations.
Since this project just went live I'm still figuring out how to communicate that.
What's your opinion?
Right now I'm reviewing about:config for non-standard settings. I did find that I did set general.useragent.override at some point and I forgot about it; however, unsetting it didn't help. I went through all other non-default settings and haven't found anything yet.
[1] https://gadgetbridge.org/basics/topics/garmin/