(Almost) De-Googled Research

Robert W. Gehl, 03 July 2021

Big news on the search front! The Brave Browser is now offering a search engine. According to their announcment, Brave Search promises "independent option for search which gives them unmatched privacy" and will use an independent index, rather than rely on Google or Microsoft. I've already started playing with Brave Search and am curious to see how it develops.

However, any time someone offers a search engine and their corporate parent isn't named Alphabet, there's a pretty predictable reaction: "Good on them for trying, but you just can't beat Google." I've also heard academics say the same thing: "I can't find anything without Google."

Search is, of course, a very common approach to conducting research, and it's especially important to my work on Internet cultures. One key way to study the Internet is by searching it. And it seems as though that means all my work ought to flow through Google.

I hadn't really thought much about this situation until just recently. Along with Sean Lawson, I co-authored a book, Social Engineering: How Crowdmasters, Phreaks, Hackers, and Trolls Created a New Form of Manipulative Communication. It will come out from MIT Press in a few months.

The book is the result of four years of research on hacker social engineering practices as well as early 20th century propaganda and public relations (a field that also referred to its activity as "social engineering"). After finishing this latest book, I realized I'm a living testament to the fact that yes, you can de-Google your search and still conduct research. Because that's what I did.

Mostly.

Here's how I conducted mostly de-Googled searches.

Startpage

Post Tags

• Google
• Startpage
• DuckDuckGo
• Brave