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Search Engines and Directories on The World Wide Web
The boom in internet usage that seems to keep growing at lighting speeds brings the demand for users to find what they are looking for without having to search for hours to find it. Search Engines and Directories are significant players in the game of what may feel like hide-and-seek for those unfamiliar with how to find what they are looking for.
Just find a search box and type in a word. But do you realize that you may type in the same word on a dozen different search engines and get as many different results? So all search engines are not created equal, nor do they all serve the same purpose or offer the same type of information and services to the user.
Just who is in Control?
While some of us may give little thought to the process as we turn on the computer and use the only service we are aware of, the options now available are worth taking notice of.
Google was nothing when the internet became a sensation and changed how the world exchanges information, socializes, hires employees, advertises, and shops.
Yet, one would think that some folks believe that Google is the internet, and without them, we would be taken back to the days of the telegraph or long-distance phone payments and sending mail through the post office.
Unfortunately, Google seems to think that way themselves all too often, as is evident with their ever-reaching efforts to gain a more complete and total grip on the lives of internet users.
And to be fair, they are not alone. It is a widespread problem today where our personal and private information and habits apparently looked on as fair game from the sharks who circle us looking for their next opportunity to grab an easy meal.
Technology & Profit At Whose Expense?
Technology is being used first and foremost to make millions and billions of dollars for these giant companies. You may experience some added feature or small benefit, then be tracked everywhere you go and be persuaded continuously to buy or purchase specific products.
By giving these people more intrusive access and reach into your private life, you no longer may have one. Be aware of your privacy and security and protect yourself when you are on the web.
Unfortunately, we often only learn the hard way, like when a company is caught selling information, or their lax security fails to protect information about their customers that they were responsible for keeping in confidence.
The ironic thing is that the very companies and processes that we are often led to believe we need to be protected by will be the very ones, which means we lose our privacy and freedoms. The gigantic super-rich who run this country may think that they have your best interest in mind, but in reality, they do not.
Every year we give up more privacy and information, all in the name of security, which for me, is a joke. Identity theft and hackers are worse than ever, and the hoops that you and I have to jump through in the name of security often do very little to protect us. Instead, they leave us vulnerable to the massive corporations that demand more and more access to our life.
Where is all of This Going?
Giving over more information, rights, and freedoms to those who convince us that we need their protection or must use their service, has become a scary thing.
People who seek to automate and standardized security measures allow them intrusive access into our digital life, details, and who can create personal profiles that rival the federal government and IRS have motives that they will never reveal to the common folk.
A big part of it is a push for the “new world order” and the loss of our national sovereignty. This, of course, is to make things safer and to make everything standardized worldwide. Life simplified with only one currency and one law and a handful of influential, wealthy people at the top calling all the shots.
The reason this sounds so crazy is that they hide it and would never admit in public what they plan in private. While their wish may be a long way off, they are making tremendous strides every day by using the technology along with the willingness of regular people to trust them at face value.
Or who may not even realize what may be going on behind the technology and services they use every day. I believe this is the category where the majority of people fall.
Competition For Your Time And Money
The good news is, for the most part, the game of technology improves the quality of everything we do. The business competition is fierce, and no one can coast through without care and be sloppy if they want to maintain their success.
There is a growing concern for that which I have just referred, and as a result, there are many companies that are creating far less intrusive platforms for us to use and not have to give up our firstborn child or our mother’s maiden name to sign up.
A free market where value is a must and quality is evaluated, challenged, and scrutinized, brings about end products and services that are usually of higher quality, with fewer demands from the end-users, than when one person or company has complete control no competition.
The competition is Good!
You may be content jogging down the road until someone comes blazing past you, making you aware of just how slow you were moving, and without even thinking about it, you begin to pick up the pace.
We do the same thing when driving, and two or three cars roll by us like we were sitting at a red light. Often we push the pedal without even knowing we are doing it when this happens.
Being competitive is just in human nature, and while we have all seen the effects of this when it gets out of hand, seeks only self-serving glory, or causes harm to others, competition is not a bad thing.
The same principle of competition applies to the internet and what services we use for searching content.
I remember AOL and Yahoo as the two primary services I used back in the early 1990s when chat rooms were all the rage. Talking to people on the other side of the world kept me up late many nights, enjoying this new fascination with the internet.
I never dreamed it would become what it has today, nor did I think after so many years, it would play such a big part in my personal or professional life as it does today.
The Choices Are Available For You
The more I learn now, the more I realize I do not know. We collectively gather and produce more information in a week than in all of the previous generations back to Adam and Eve combined.
If you are happy with Google and whatever everyone else seems to be using, that is perfectly normal and fine. However, It does not hurt to look around and see what other options may be available and what is offered that might pique your interest and serve you better.
Integrity is Often Lacking so, Protect Yourself at all Times
Keep in mind that some who seem to be serving are taking much more than they should through the information they gather. Infomation they then use to track you and learn your behavior to fill your phone, emails, and life with more ways to sell you things. To me, this goes too far, and what I buy or where I go should be my business and not Google’s or anyone else`s.
To that, I say no search engine or directory should ever be engaged in such activities.
And yet, they will continue to write up legal documents a mile long with their teams of lawyers and create a little box for you to check to give them the right to do more than you understand.
Nothing is Ever Free
You can read all the fine print just like with the credit card companies and banks, but unless you have a law degree, you likely are better off just checking the box or doing without their services.
I have written on this subject of control and the super-wealthy who seek to have it over us if you care to read more. For now, let us focus on the fantastic variety, creativity, and available search engines and directories on the internet today.
A niche directory or search engine can be valuable to us by giving us more detailed and relevant information in a specific area. Just like McDonald’s hamburgers had little competition for many years, once I tried a Hardee’s burger, the thought of eating the other never entered my mind again.
You may find the perfect directory or search engine here that you could use and enjoy for years to come that you before now, you never knew existed. Competition has pushed technology into overdrive, and the results can help us in many ways.
If you want to really learn more about privacy, I suggest you check out this website. They have a team of writers and editors dedicated to online privacy education.
You can access my growing list of search engines and directories here.
Search Engines And Directories A-Z
other directories of similar interests at neatfreaker.com
Affiliate Marketing Tools Directory
Definitions
A meta-search engine is defined as a search engine that sends user requests to several other search engines and databases and aggregates the results into a single list or displays them according to their source.
