Brave Software, Inc., the guys behind privacy-focused Brave desktop and mobile browsers have acquired a search engine project called Tailcat, a search engine that prioritises user privacy, a distinction it hopes will set it apart from internet search giant Google.
Tailcat is an open-source search engine developed by the team behind the now-defunct Cliqz anti-tracking search-browser combo. Brave says Tailcat will become the foundation of Brave Search, which it says alongside Brave browser will constitute the industry's first independent, privacy-preserving alternative to Google Chrome and Google Search, which rely on tracking users across sites and have 70% and 92% respectively.
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"Under the hood, nearly all of today's search engines are either built by, or rely on, results from Big Tech companies. In contrast, the Tailcat search engine is built on top of a completely independent index, capable of delivering the quality people expect, but without compromising their privacy," Brave said. Adding that "Tailcat does not collect IP addresses or use personally identifiable information to improve search result."
Brave plans to show search ads through Brave Search. It also hopes to pay users for seeing the ads, the same way it does with its browser. Brave's existing browser-based ad system pays 70% of ad revenue to Brave users who opt in to the system called Brave Rewards,
"If we get to that promised land of our own automated search ad system, then we will give the user at least what we make," Chief Executive Breden Eich said.
Brave has opened up a waiting list for people to signup for beta testing in the coming weeks, with general availability expected to come in late spring or summer.
while dethroning Google isn't on the list, at least for now. Eich forecast Brave will have as many as 50 million monthly users by the end of the year, doubling the current 25 million users it has.