SUMA-EV – Association for Free Access to Knowledge

SUMA-EV – Association for Free Access to Knowledge (German: SUMA-EV – Verein für freien Wissenszugang) is a German registered non-profit association based in Hanover. Its central purpose is to ensure that the world's digital knowledge remains freely accessible without paternalism by states or corporations. To this end, the association develops and operates the privacy-respecting metasearch engine MetaGer, which aggregates results from other web search engines while avoiding user profiling and unnecessary data storage. The association was founded on 5 July 2004 under the name "Gemeinnütziger Verein zur Förderung der Suchmaschinen-Technologie und des freien Wissenszugangs, SuMa-eV" and was renamed SUMA-EV in 2009. Founding members include Wolfgang Sander-Beuermann, Karlheinz Brandenburg, Wolfgang Ertmer and Rainer Appelt. Karlheinz Brandenburg, known as the inventor of the MP3 format, serves as patron (Schirmherr) of SUMA-EV. The association is funded through membership fees, donations, donation shares from online purchases, and advertising links. It also organizes an annual congress, awards SUMA Awards and, since 2018, SUMA scholarships to students working on search engine technology and free knowledge access. SUMA-EV is a co-initiator of the Open-Web-Index (OWI) concept, which aims to create an independent index as a basis for internet services such as search engines, map services and comparison portals. The association collaborates with the University of Hanover in operating MetaGer. Its current managing board member is Dominik Hebeler, who took over from founder Wolfgang Sander-Beuermann on 1 February 2019. Board members include Dominik Hebeler, Phil Höfer, Carsten Riel and Manuela Branz. The association's philosophy emphasizes privacy, transparency, pluralism in the search engine market, and the promotion of information literacy. It views the monopoly position of a single search engine as a threat to freedom and democracy, and advocates for diversity and pluralism in the search engine market.

SUMA-EV was founded on 5 July 2004 in Hanover under the name "Gemeinnütziger Verein zur Förderung der Suchmaschinen-Technologie und des freien Wissenszugangs, SuMa-eV". Founding members included Wolfgang Sander-Beuermann (then at the Regional Computing Centre for Lower Saxony), Karlheinz Brandenburg (Ilmenau University of Technology), Wolfgang Ertmer (University of Hanover) and Rainer Appelt (New Media State Capital Hanover / German Association of Internet Portals, BDIP). The association's origins are closely tied to the metasearch engine MetaGer, which was developed in 1996 at the Regional Computing Centre for Lower Saxony at the University of Hanover. Initially a program to query information on different university servers, the principle of aggregated search was soon applied to general web search, evolving into a metasearch engine that queries other web search engines. As Google rose to dominance from the turn of the millennium, MetaGer's significance and orientation changed: alternatives to the monopolist became necessary, especially as Google began to control access to information based on its advertising-based business model. In 2009, the association was renamed "SUMA-EV – Verein für freien Wissenszugang". The association has since operated MetaGer in cooperation with the University of Hanover. It also promotes the development of other specialized search engines and organizes an annual congress on societal questions related to search engines and the internet. Since 2007, it has awarded the annual SUMA Award; since 2018, these awards have been given as scholarships to students at German universities and colleges working on search engine technology and free knowledge access. In June 2013, following the revelation of the PRISM surveillance program by Edward Snowden, the private television channel SAT.1 reported on SUMA's free advice on migrating to the Linux operating system. The association is a co-initiator of the Open-Web-Index (OWI) initiative, which aims to create an independent index as a basis for internet services such as search engines, map services and comparison portals. On 1 February 2019, Dominik Hebeler became managing board member, succeeding founder Wolfgang Sander-Beuermann, who had held the position until 31 January 2019. The association continues to be funded through membership fees, donations, donation shares from online purchases, and advertising links.

• 2019

  Dominik Hebeler becomes managing board member on 1 February, succeeding Wolfgang Sander-Beuermann.

• 2018

  SUMA Awards converted into scholarships for students.

• 2013

  SAT.1 reports on SUMA's free Linux migration advice following PRISM revelations.

• 2009

  Association renamed "SUMA-EV – Verein für freien Wissenszugang".

• 2007

  First SUMA Award presented.

• 2004

  SUMA-EV founded on 5 July in Hanover under the name "Gemeinnütziger Verein zur Förderung der Suchmaschinen-Technologie und des freien Wissenszugangs, SuMa-eV".

• 1996

  MetaGer developed at the Regional Computing Centre for Lower Saxony, University of Hanover.

Non-profit association promoting free access to knowledge and privacy-respecting search, operating the MetaGer metasearch engine as a non-commercial alternative to commercial search monopolies.

• MetaGer

  Privacy-respecting metasearch engine that aggregates results from other web search engines without user profiling.

• Open-Web-Index (OWI)

  Initiative to create an independent index as a basis for internet services such as search engines, map services and comparison portals.

• Linux migration advice
• SUMA Congress
• SUMA Awards and scholarships

1. 1SUMA-EV official websitesuma-ev.de
2. 2Über unssuma-ev.de
3. 3Geschichte des SUMA-EVsuma-ev.de
4. 4Suma e. V. – Wikipediade.wikipedia.org
5. 5Suma association – Wikidatawikidata.org