Hi HN!

I'm the developer and designer behind Okeano.

Okeano is a privacy-friendly search engine with a simple proposition – spend 80% of profits to help end ocean plastic pollution.

Currently we support domain blocklisting and !waves (similar to DDG bangs).

In order to provide true privacy, we're developing an in-house privacy-friendy ad network and management system. A beta should be ready in October. Currently Okeano displays no ads.

Appreciate any feedback.

- David

Edit: You can add/update your blocklist at https://okeano.com/blocklist

Hey like the goal of supporting ocean cleanup. How do you guys make money currently without ads/free service?

Currently not making any money. It's a bit of a chicken egg-problem.. Ad networks that offer the type of ads suitable for a search engine want user data, unless you have a significant number of users, in which case they're willing to make a deal.

That's why I decided to build an in-house ad network which is in the making. Hopefully others can use it too, eventually.

The idea is simple.. I know Ecosia has above 1m in monthly profits (DDG significantly more, probably), so in the case where we manage to reach those numbers, we want to purchase river interceptors from the Ocean Cleanup Project. One river interceptor from the OCP costs about $700k. It's estimated that there is a need for 1000 river interceptors to stop 80% of plastic from entering the ocean. Even if we can eventually purchase 12 interceptors a year, that's a big change. I explain this at https://okeano.com/about but probably should add more information and sources!

I wonder what domains get blocked the most. For me it would be:

  - Quora
  - Wikihow
  - Pinterest

I'll be happy to add a stats page once we have significant numbers to show.