Google intentionally tamped down their reverse image search several years ago. They fundamentally changed how the product works, the results that it delivers, and did it on purpose. It's definitely inferior if you're actually looking to find copies of an image (Google is fully aware, they don't want you to be able to effectively search their image system that way).
although I can't seem to find the followup post that actually discusses how the Yandex search quality decreased following the publication of the original article
Fascinating read, thank you. I can't help but wonder what is available to big companies and governments these days in terms of technology and algorithms that we laypeople don't have access to or even dream about.
And then there was the genomics or DNA database or something that a couple of people were running out of their garage (well, a bit more than that) but then had to shut down after law enforcement discovered it, found it incredibly useful, and everything rapidly went sideways as "things aren't supposed to work that way"... but I'm having the hardest time finding the link for this one sadly ._.
EDIT (just within the 1hr window :): I think the second one was GEDmatch. A quick search of https://hn.algolia.com/?query=gedmatch didn't relocate what I remember reading, but I think this was it.
