Security News > 2020 > January > Ooh, watch out Google. You've got competition. Verizon has a new 'privacy-focused' search engine

Verizon has slung out a new, privacy-focused search engine in an effort to win over customers who prefer not to have their browsing habits tracked by ad-slingers and the like.

Three years ago, it bought Yahoo! and two years before that, AOL, in a ham-fisted effort to woo millennials away from Facebook and Google - which it later rebranded as Oath and then the Verizon Media Group.

Verizon said the new search engine, named One Search, won't share user's personal information with advertisers, or store their search history.

The decision to make a privacy-focused search engine is apparently in line with Verizon's "Commitment to trust and transparency" and the way the company has led the industry "Over the last couple decades."

Brian Honan, a special advisor on internet security to Europol, told The Reg: "Given their history, Verizon have an uphill battle in gaining the trust of customers around privacy. In particular for non-US-based customers who worry companies like Verizon will prioritise US government requests over their individual rights."

News URL

https://go.theregister.co.uk/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2020/01/23/verizon_search_engine/