Free software activists have released a peer-to-peer search engine, named YaCy, to take on Google, Yahoo, Bing and others.
YaCy software, which can be downloaded by anybody on Mac, Linux and Windows, is said to help the search system improve and spread the load of queries. Processing is instead shared out equally between the peers. This is in contrast to Google which has a few vast centralised data centres.
The project is supported by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), which feels that certain leaders in search engine arena wield too much control and power over what information internet users can access.
FSFE president Karsten Gerloff said that leading search engines will also know what you’re currently interested in.
The developers claim that if more people download then YaCy software can surely pose a threat to rival commercial offerings.
