One Non-Profit Should Index the Internet

It would make things faster for everyone
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 25, 2009 3:25 PM CST
One Non-Profit Should Index the Internet
This 2008 file photo shows Google co-founders Sergey Brin, left, and Larry Page.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)

The Internet would be faster for everyone if a single, non-profit entity maintained a search index, writes Tom Foremski. Privately owned search engines use enormous resources to build their proprietary indexes, and sites use tons of bandwidth to answer their queries. On Foremski's Silicon Valley Watcher, for example, search robots/spiders accounted for 45% of the bandwidth.

Google, Bing, and the others could still offer unique value because their results reflect the sophistication of their rankings and analysis. Google's founders supported the idea of an indexing non-profit in their Stanford days. Larry Page "was very adamant about search engines not being owned by commercial entities," recalls Andrei Broder, the founder of Altavista. "He said it should all be done by a nonprofit. I guess Larry has changed his mind about that."
(More Google stories.)

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