In their attempt to provide more relevant search results, and to make money, (most) search engines track user activity, serve ads, and integrate social media within the results. All this in the name of growth, prosperity, and better search. Google does it. Bing does it. Yahoo does it. [Insert search engine name] probably does it, too. What would happen if they didn’t?

What would happen if, say, Yahoo stopped showing ads, stopped tracking user activity, and stopped integrating social media and instead started charging for the use of Yahoo’s search engine? Let’s find out:

Sadly enough, if Yahoo had better search algorithms, the above comic could have been true. Would you pay for using a tracking, advertisement, and social media free search engine? If it was Google, and the price was right, I might. Until then, I have AdBlock Plus and Ghostery.

[via Joy of Tech]