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Goodbye, Google? Seven Reasons Why a Big Tech-Free Search Engine Is the Smarter Choice

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09 Apr, 2025

This post was originally published on Good Search

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Image by Alexa from Pixabay

In today’s digital world, search engines are the front doors to the internet. They shape the information we access, influence public opinion, and play a major role in global commerce. Yet the dominant players—Google and Microsoft’s Bing—operate on business models that prioritize profit over people. Their reliance on advertising, data collection, and algorithmic manipulation raises critical concerns about privacy, sustainability, and concentrated power.

After five years of building our search engine, GOOD (“the search engine for a better world”), we made a radical decision last year: to completely break free from Big Tech’s control. And we haven’t looked back since.

But why exactly is an independent, ad-free search engine the better choice? We found seven reasons (and there are more). Here they are

1. Breaking the Monopoly: More Diversity, Less Market Concentration

The internet’s most powerful players—Google and Microsoft—control an overwhelming share of the search market, creating a digital monopoly that restricts competition and diversity. Google alone accounts for over 90% of global search queries, wielding immense power over the flow of information and public discourse.

Alternative search engines like GOOD are crucial in countering this concentration. By offering independent search results and maintaining autonomy from Big Tech infrastructure, they introduce competition and mitigate the risks of a single entity dictating what people see and know. GOOD empowers a more open internet, where users have real choices—and real alternatives.

2. Unbiased and Objective Search Results

Advertising-driven search engines are inherently biased. Their business models depend on promoting paid content, meaning users are often shown results shaped by commercial interests rather than relevance or accuracy. Google made over $350 billion in advertising revenue last year—that’s more than $34 for every person on Earth.

GOOD Search removes this commercial filter. With no ads or paid placements, it delivers organic results based purely on relevance and integrity—ensuring you find what you’re actually looking for, not just what companies want you to see.

3. Escaping the Filter Bubble: A Healthier Way to Form Opinions

Personalized search results may seem helpful, but they can be dangerously limiting. Big Tech companies use algorithms that tailor results based on users’ past behavior, effectively trapping them in “filter bubbles.” This leads to a narrow worldview, reinforcing existing beliefs and limiting exposure to new ideas.

GOOD Search offers a clear window into the web—not a mirror that only reflects what you already think. By avoiding algorithmic manipulation, it promotes access to a broader range of perspectives, supporting informed opinions and democratic discourse.

4. No Psychological Manipulation Through Advertising

Advertising isn’t just about selling—it’s about shaping behavior. Google and Bing have perfected the art of matching ads to search queries, subtly steering users toward purchases and behaviors. Personalized ads create a psychological pressure that many users barely notice.

GOOD Search eliminates this pressure entirely. Without advertising, users can explore the internet without being nudged or manipulated—making the search experience transparent, empowering, and user-centered.

5. A Sustainable Search: Lower Energy Consumption and a Greener Web

Few people realize the environmental toll of online advertising. The infrastructure needed to serve ads, track users, and build behavioral profiles consumes massive amounts of computing power—translating into a significant carbon footprint. Every tracked click, personalized ad, and AI-powered suggestion comes with a hidden environmental cost.

GOOD Search eliminates this digital waste. With no ads, no trackers, and no profiling, it uses significantly less energy. Even better, GOOD actively invests in climate-positive projects that remove more CO₂ than it emits—so every search helps build a greener web.

6. Ultimate Privacy: No Tracking, No Data Collection

Mainstream search engines like Google and Bing track users relentlessly, harvesting vast amounts of personal data to fuel their ad-targeting engines. This invasion of privacy not only feels unsettling—it also leaves users vulnerable to data breaches and third-party exploitation.

GOOD Search guarantees complete anonymity. It collects no personal data, stores no search history, and creates no user profiles. With GOOD, your search history stays exactly where it belongs: with you—and no one else.

7. Social Entrepreneurship: Putting Purpose Over Profit

Big Tech’s ultimate goal is maximizing shareholder value—even if it comes at the expense of ethics, user well-being, or the environment. Engagement, ad revenue, and behavioral manipulation often take precedence over fairness and transparency.

GOOD Search operates on a different model—one rooted in social entrepreneurship. A substantial portion of its revenue supports impact-driven initiatives, including climate action and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Instead of fueling consumerism, GOOD powers global progress—through concrete support for social and environmental change.

Join the Movement. Break Free from Big Tech.

With the GOOD web search, we challenge the status quo with an independent, ad-free, and low-carbon alternative. Try it out: www.good-search.org

Questions, Critique, Ideas? Message us!
Andreas Renner, Co-Founder GOOD: andreas@good-search.org

The post Goodbye, Google? Seven Reasons Why a Big Tech-Free Search Engine Is the Smarter Choice appeared first on GOOD – The search engine for a better world.

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Taking the electronic pulse of the circular economy

Taking the electronic pulse of the circular economy

In June, I had the privilege of attending the 2025 E-Waste World, Battery Recycling, Metal Recycling, and ITAD & Circular Electronics Conference & Expo events in Frankfurt, Germany.

Speaking in the ITAD & Circular Electronics track on a panel with global Circular Economy leaders from Foxway Group, ERI and HP, we explored the evolving role of IT asset disposition (ITAD) and opportunities in the circular electronics economy.

The event’s focus on advancing circular economy goals and reducing environmental impact delivered a series of insights and learnings. From this assembly of international expertise across 75+ countries, here are some points from the presentations that stood out for me:

1. Environmental impact of the digital economy

Digitalisation has a heavy material footprint in the production phase, and lifecycle thinking needs to guide every product decision. Consider that 81% of the energy a laptop uses in its lifetime is consumed during manufacture (1 tonne in manufacture is equal to 10,000 tonnes of CO2) and laptops are typically refreshed or replaced by companies every 3–4 years.

From 2018 to 2023, the average number of devices and connections per capita in the world increased by 50% (2.4 to 3.6). In North America (8.2 to 13.4) and Western Europe (5.6 to 9.4), this almost doubled. In 1960, only 10 periodic table elements were used to make phones. In 1990, 27 elements were used and now over 60 elements are used to build the smartphones that we have become so reliant on.

A key challenge is that low-carbon and digital technologies largely compete for the same minerals. Material resource extraction could increase 60% between 2020 and 2060, while demand for lithium, cobalt and graphite is expected to rise by 500% until 2050.

High growth in ICT demand and Internet requires more attention to the environmental footprint of the digital economy. Energy consumption of data centres is expected to more than double by 2026. The electronics industry accounts for over 4% of global GHG — and digitalisation-related waste is growing, with skewed impacts on developing countries.

E-waste is rising five times faster than recycling — 1 tonne of e-waste has a carbon footprint of 2 tonnes. Today’s solution? ‘Bury it or burn it.’ In terms of spent emissions, waste and the costs associated with end-of-life liabilities, PCBAs (printed circuit board assembly) cost us enormously — they generally achieve 3–5% recyclability (75% of CO2 in PCBAs is from components).

2. Regulating circularity in electronics

There is good momentum across jurisdictions in right-to-repair, design and labelling regulations; recycling targets; and voluntary frameworks on circularity and eco-design.

The EU is at the forefront. EU legislation is lifting the ICT aftermarket, providing new opportunities for IT asset disposition (ITAD) businesses. To get a sense, the global market for electronics recycling is estimated to grow from $37 billion to $108 billion (2022–2030). The value of refurbished electronics is estimated to increase from $85.9 billion to $262.2 billion (2022–2032). Strikingly, 40% of companies do not have a formal ITAD strategy in place.

Significantly, the EU is rethinking its Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) management targets, aligned with upcoming circularity and WEEE legislation, as part of efforts to foster the circular economy. A more robust and realistic circularity-driven approach to setting collection targets would better reflect various factors including long lifespans of electronic products and market fluctuations.

Australia and New Zealand lag the EU’s comprehensive e-waste mandated frameworks. The lack of a systematic approach results in environmental degradation and missed positioning opportunities for businesses in the circular economy. While Australia’s Senate inquiry into waste reduction and recycling recommended legislating a full circular economy framework — including for imported and local product design, financial incentives and regulatory enforcement, New Zealand remains the only OECD country without a national scheme to manage e-waste.

3. Extending product lifecycles

Along with data security and digital tools, reuse was a key theme in the ITAD & Circular Electronics track of the conference. The sustainable tech company that I lead, Greenbox, recognises that reuse is the simplest circular strategy. Devices that are still functional undergo refurbishment and are reintroduced into the market, reducing new production need and conserving valuable resources.

Conference presenters highlighted how repair over replacement is being legislated as a right in jurisdictions around the world. Resources are saved, costs are lowered, product life is extended, and people and organisations are empowered to support a greener future. It was pointed out that just 43% of countries have recycling policies, 17% of global waste is formally recycled, and less than 1% of global e-waste is formally repaired and reused.

Right to repair is a rising wave in the circular economy, and legislation is one way that civil society is pushing back on programmed obsolescence. Its global momentum continues at different speeds for different product categories — from the recent EU mandates to multiple US state bills (and some laws) through to repair and reuse steps in India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The European Commission’s Joint Research Commission has done a scoping study to identify product groups under the Ecodesign framework that would be most relevant for implementing an EU-wide product reparability scoring system.

Attending this event with the entire electronic waste recycling supply chain — from peers and partners to suppliers and customers — underscored the importance of sharing best practices to address the environmental challenges that increased hardware proliferation and complex related issues are having on the world.

Ross Thompson is Group CEO of sustainability, data management and technology asset lifecycle management market leader Greenbox. With facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Greenbox Group provides customers all over the world a carbon-neutral supply chain for IT equipment to reduce their carbon footprint by actively managing their environmental, social and governance obligations.

Image credit: iStock.com/Mustafa Ovec

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