I wonder if more generic searches would have helped, because this seems like an issue that's neither specific to Google nor likely something that's likely to be

I wonder if more generic searches would have helped, because this seems like an issue that's neither specific to Google nor likely something that's likely to be protected any time soon. Think "Domestic flight TSA regulations" instead of "can i bring a gas mask on a plane". Arguably Google's quick answer box contributed to people searching this way, though I'm sure it was a two way street of people searching that way leading to people expecting real answers to this type of query - Google would have simply responded to user expectations. Either way, DDG and Bing likely wouldn't have fared better, and I doubt you'd get very far with Tor before hitting endless Captchas - meaning generic (or at least less immediately incriminating) searches are the only realistic solution in the near future.