Competitors' efforts have failed to dent Google's search market share. A survey of customer satisfaction paints a different picture — which just goes to show you that it's not, as Google likes to claim, all about the users. The newly released American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) from the University of Michigan has Yahoo regaining its lead over Google with an increase of 3.9 points, while Google fell 3.7 points. ACSI attributes the improvements to Yahoo's ratings to well-received design and feature enhancements. Ask.com experienced the biggest improvement, jumping 5.6 points, leaving it tied with Microsoft's MSN.

When not focused on Jesus, privacy is the cornerstone of the Ask.com campaign — it's the second-tier search engine's only hope for gaining ground on Google. So it's not entirely surprising that CNET ranks it as the most secure search engine. But by eerie coincidence, CNET was also serving an Ask.com ad right next to the chart that proclaims Ask the privacy king. That's what we call a-squidge-too-targeted marketing.

Since Google began openly logging your search history, navigating the Internet has become an ever-creepier proposition. Anonymity, for the most part, is feigned. Your privacy is an illusion. And with behavioral marketing seen as the holy grail of online advertising, it won't be long before someone rips open and sells your history of search requests — it'd be as exposing as, say, revealing the racier parts of your Netflix queue. This site's editor, for example, certainly doesn't want Google knowing how often he searches for topless photos of Jakob Lodwick. (Oh puhleeze. So not my type. -Ed.)

comScore released its May figures on search engine traffic today, showing that Google has grown to handle 50.7% of all keyword searches. Another thing to note: Traffic to IAC's Ask.com search engine declined from April, when they began their latest ad campaign. [Barron's]

NICK DOUGLAS — Thailand will continue banning YouTube even though the user who posted a video mocking the king has taken it down. (There are still two pics on YouTube, says Thailand, that harm the king's sensitive sensibilities.) But Google says they'll work with Thailand to help censor YouTube. So who's outlawed in what country? Where is Google banned, and where's it just censored? And what's with North Korea? Let's answer this with the magic of charts!

Congratulations! The South by Southwest festival committee has asked you for panel suggestions for next year's SXSW.

During his morning porn search research, a search blogger got rejected by Ask.com, which blocks searches such as "pedophilia laws in Belgium," "sex of a child," and "sexy girls," along with real pedo searches like "sex with kids." It's a horrible, horrible act of censorship, because all Americans are born with the God-given right to check, before we fly to our next business conference whether 16's legal in Switzerland.

The butler didn't do it! In response to the dossier of dalliances from the olden days at Ask Jeeves, a tipster claiming to also be from the manservant-firing search company says none of those reported sexual escapades really went on:

Ask.com finally killed their best asset, the lovable butler Jeeves. What better excuse occasion for an ex-Jeevester and friend of Valleywag to reminisce.

Andy Smith tells me that Cal Henderson fairy domains are a tradition. Thus: [AsifCalneededanotherdomain.com]
Watson contextual search (a search that checks out what you're working on) looks pretty rockin'. But dudes, why are you slumming around with this Job for Jeeves campaign? It's more desperate than the Petsmart puppet. [A Job for Jeeves]
Dude, never try to out-cool Steve Jobs. Intel tries to one-up Apple's six-button remote with a voice-recognition remote, but the demo turns into a little one-man shouting match. [Bit-Tech.net]
A Google hiccup shakes up the Internets, and keeps us from data-mining SiliconBeat. [SiliconBeat]
Note to self: When approaching VC Fred Wilson for startup funding, rent your offices by the hour. [A VC

Overheard last night:

Scientists find the secret cause of flame wars. Surprise! It's not Kirk vs. Picard. [Slashdot]
Community loans, free from the influence of rich banks. Funded by rich venture funds. [alarm:clock]
Did Barry Diller buy Ask.com just to kill Jeeves? Coolest. Acquisition reason. Ever. [Search Engine Journal]
Mashup Camp gets an overflow camp — Mucho Camp, hosted at Social Text — and becomes a wee bit less indie. [Mashup Camp]
A suggested slogan to combat "Googling": "Yahoo that bitch!" [Yahoo 360]

The weird thing about this eavesdropped line is, well, that it's so obviously wrong.