The privacy vs. anonymous thing is fair, and I have some issues with that, and I wish it were a bit more clear on what exactly that means. Even if Vlad's example of "parents knowing what you're doing but still respecting privacy" thing is true, it's not like I want my parents know I'm looking at porn, even if they don't know what kind of porn I'm looking at. That's something that they should address.
I still trust Kagi more than basically any free service though. There's no ads, and since they charge for search they at least have a means of making money that doesn't involve selling my data. Even if Kagi knows what I'm doing, I'm willing to accept that they're not dispensing my data quite as liberally as Google and Microsoft (and apparently DDG).
Well I don't use the Kagi Orion browser at all, I use IceCat on all my PC stuff, and Firefox on mobile.
I do generally agree with your broader point, however in 2024 I don't think it's realistic to stop utilizing search engines while not inadvertently giving up PII. I mean, I could, but I do think my life would be considerably worse.
At least with Kagi, they have some means of making money that doesn't involve selling data. It's entirely possible that they betray us and start selling our data anyway, I'm not completely naive, but at least it's not an inevitability like with ostensibly free services.
I still trust Kagi more than basically any free service though. There's no ads, and since they charge for search they at least have a means of making money that doesn't involve selling my data. Even if Kagi knows what I'm doing, I'm willing to accept that they're not dispensing my data quite as liberally as Google and Microsoft (and apparently DDG).