Brave takes on Google with privacy-focused search engine - CNET

Browser maker Brave has acquired a search engine project that prioritizes user privacy, a distinction it hopes will set it apart from Google, the undisputed leader in internet search. .

Tailcat, which Burda shuttered in 2020, was designed to show results without logging user search activity or building a profile.

Brave plans eventually to show search ads through Brave Search, as the Tailcat technology is now called.

"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 Brendan Eich said.

Cliqz hired external security researchers to test the system, Eich said, and is confident search data can't be traced back to any individual.

But tracking the link people click from among those results is "OK," he said, as long as it's done anonymously and with users' permission.

Brave Search will only gather data from users who opt in, Eich said.