Kagi's search engine adds a more private option for searching.

Online searching becomes more private with the recent addition of a new feature in the paid search engine Kagi, known as Privacy Pass. This tool allows users to perform searches without being tracked back to them.

Privacy Pass is based on an authentication protocol that has been standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force. Its operation relies on users authenticating themselves with servers like Kagi by generating tokens, which the company claims are "indistinguishable from a randomly generated token from the server's perspective." This means that while the server can identify that a token has been created, it cannot associate it with other tokens generated by the same user in the present or the past.

Kagi emphasizes that "Privacy Pass adds another layer of trust: we can verify that you have the right to search without knowing your identity or what you're searching for." This approach aims to go beyond the simple promise of not tracking users, making it technically impossible to do so.

To activate Privacy Pass, users only need to enable the option within Kagi. Currently, this feature is available on the Orion browser for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, as well as in the Kagi app for Android. It can also be used through the Kagi extension for Firefox and Chrome.

Additionally, Kagi has made it possible to access the service directly from Tor via the onion address: kagi2pv5bdcxxqla5itjzje2cgdccuwept5ub6patvmvn3qgmgjd6vid.onion. However, the company clarifies that "without Privacy Pass, you still need to be logged into your Kagi account to perform searches, which theoretically could link them back to a single account."

At the moment, Privacy Pass is only available to users subscribed to the Professional plan at $10 per month and the Ultimate plan at $25 per month. It is also included in the Family and Team plans. Kagi has indicated that this feature is not yet offered in its free plan or the Starter subscription at $5 per month, "due to technical limitations." On the other hand, it has announced that it will not charge users in case they forget to use their subscription.