Meet
Show your Face for #FreeWebSearch
You want to show your support for #FreeWebSearch – personally or with your organisation?
Send an email with a quote, why #FreeWebSearch is important to you, what the problem is in your point of view, what you wish for the future of web search …, a photo of yourself, your name, affiliation + function. We will publish it here and on social media.
Organisations can also send their logo to be listed in the section at the bottom of the page.
Noor Afshan Fathima, Software Engineer, CERN
“The presence of alternative Search Engines that are built on top of alternative Search Indices offers choice, privacy, and diverse perspectives, enriching the digital landscape and empowering users from broad spectrums to find what matters most to them.”
David Alders, Project Manager Digitalised Society at Stiftung Mercator
“Democracy needs infrastructure. Search engines are an important part of the infrastructure of our digitalised society. Their nature and functioning determines what content we see, what knowledge we have access to, which voices we hear and which we don’t … in short: they shape our world view. To leave this role to a very few commercial companies alone seems negligent. More attention needs to be paid to the issue and work on alternatives … that’s exactly what #FreeWebSearch Day stands for!”
Olivier Blanchard, Consultant (Digidoo) and member of Open Search Foundation e.V.
“In the field of web search – in the way we digitally explore the world today – we currently have no transparent view of the information we collect. In reality, our perception of information today is based on a generally accepted filter that we ourselves can neither judge nor comprehend. This is what #FreeWebSearch Day reminds us of. The Open Search Foundation is committed to changing this. Get informed!”
Alexander Decker, Professor of Digital Media, Technical University Ingolstadt (THI)
“Background knowledge about and know-how in dealing with search engines are essential skills today. They belong on every curriculum and in every training path.”
Emmanouil Detsis, Senior Science Officer at European Science Foundation & Project Coordinator at NGI Sargasso
“NGI Sargasso aims to fund projects that will contribute to the vision of an internet for humans. #FreeWebSearch is a core concept supporting this mission as a transparent and trustworthy web search algorithm is vital to a healthy internet, and thus NGI Sargasso hopes to unite visionaries across the continents that can develop new techniques and new products to tackle this important issue and provide a viable alternative to commercial, closed source and unaccountable indexing and searching engines.”
Kai Erenli, Professor and Course Director, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna
“#FreeWebSearch is crucial for our digital society to promote the principles of freedom of expression, competition and cultural exchange. This also applies to the gaming community, which is closely connected to me, as the open availability of information and resources helps both developers and gamers to exchange ideas and create innovative games.”
Christian Geminn, Lawyer, Managing Director of the provet research group, Universität Kassel
“The digital society needs infrastructures that promote freedom. The benchmark must be European fundamental rights and values, which must be promoted in the best possible way.”
Stefan Hachinger, Researcher at Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ), responsible for the team „Research Data Management“
“The open web index lays the foundations for innovative, transparent search services, as well as for new, independent, generative AI systems from Europe. The #FreeWebSearchDay honours this work and reminds us of the importance of online search in our everyday lives.”
Colin Hayhurst, CEO, Mojeek
“We need to take action to restore internet search to what it should be: diverse, impartial, and free from manipulation.”
Djoerd Hiemstra, Professor, Radboud University
“#FreeWebSearch day is important, because the big tech gatekeepers that control web advertisements, our web browsers and our operating systems, are hurting our ability to freely seek information.”
“An ecosystem of free and independent search engines helps ensure that our daily use of the web isn’t skewed to the benefit of a few global players.”
Shahab Khormali, Research manager at Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) and OpenWebSearch.eu project manager
“Accessing independent search services that prioritize privacy, security, and accuracy is a game-changer for gaining knowledge and making informed decisions, and free and open web search makes it possible.”
Dieter Kranzlmüller, Computer Scientist and Director Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ)
“The #FreeWebSearchDay challenges us researchers to develop new technologies and strategies for independent search services. Currently, well-known search engines support information retrieval.But anyone who wants to classify and evaluate the content found needs transparent search algorithms and should know how the rankings of the search results are created or at least know the criteria by which they are sorted.”
Michiel Leenaars, Director of Strategy at NLnet
“Search engines are far from passive components of the web, they construct a selective new reality – and obscure more than they show. Users are not well protected from predatory practices and intransparent bias. That is why #FreeWebSearch is needed: to make search something we own and control ourselves.”
Astrid Mager, Researcher, Institute of Technology Assessment (ÖAW)
“A democratic society needs open, independent, and non-profit search infrastructures to provide access to knowledge in the public interest.”
Christine Plote, Member of the board of Open Search Foundation e.V.
“It is surprising that the enormous impact of search engines on our society and personal lives and our dependence on them is hardly discussed – in contrast to the lively discussions about social media or artificial intelligence! This is now to change.”
“FreeWebSearch is THE solid basis for our free society. Without such free websearch, what is perceived as ‘truth’ is just what can make the most money.”
Anka Schuler, Office Manager at Open Search Foundation e.V.
“Our youth have a right to independent neutral information from the web! It is our job to teach our children that not all information is independent and neutral, and to create alternatives.”
Megi Sharikadze, Science Manager and Coordinator at Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ), Member of OpenSearch Foundation and OpenWebSearch.eu Project Coordination team
“Internet search has became so commonplace that many do not even think about it twice. Being on autopilot mode, search behavior is then goal-oriented. Very often I’m not satisfied with the search results… my search space is multifaceted not only topic- but also language-wise. I wish and strive for improvements, for needed specialized solutions. In OpenSearch Foundation and OpenWebSearch.eu project, we work for better and trustworthy European search services.
#FreeWebSearchDay reminds us to search consciously and responsibly with alternatives offered by other players opposing personal-data-hungry large platforms.”
Willi Tetzlaff, Ambassador, Swisscows
“#FreeWebSearch is a cause close to our hearts. Google knows more about you than you, your friends, children, parents or partners. We absolutely have to get back to a more diverse offer on the search engine market – without analysis and subsequent data sale!”
Stefan Voigt, Co-founder and chairmen of the board of the Open Search Foundation e.V.
“It is great to see the #FreeWebSearch Day shaping, since it is a precious opportunity to take the potential of free and open web search to a broad audience. We urgently need to reach the public, with this movement.”
Arjen P. de Vries, Professor of Information Retrieval at Radboud University
“The Web is an amazing creation by humanity. But, the open Web seems to be in decline: being swallowed behind commercial APIs. We have to claim back our online space!”
Katie Wellenberg, Musikerin
“I am quite intrigued by the idea of free and transparent web search. As an indie artist and educator I find it increasingly difficult having to bow to algorithms whose operation criteria and whose intentions remain hidden. I would love to see more innovative, ethical Search and Marketing alternatives in the near future.”
