Search Engines retain user’s information and these might fall prey to wrong hands. For example the AOL search data leak released detailed search logs of large number of AOL users. To keep your search results anonymous and private, an intermediate between you and search engine can act as a filter of your privacy. StartPage does this function for you.
Anonymous Google Search Results
StartPage is a trusted private search engine that takes your queries and submits to Google on your behalf without any identifying information. It strips away all the personal information like location, time, browser and IP address.
The service is based out of Netherlands, so US jurisdiction has no influence and can’t force the company to turn over your data. #. From where does StartPage provides search results? StartPage uses Google for its search results. However, you will notice some difference between Google results and those shown by StartPage. It is because Google personalizes your results according to your preferences(location, history, interests etc.) whereas the service shows generic Google results. StartPage only acts as an intermediate between Google and you. They submit your search query anonymously to Google and then get the results delivered to you. #. Does StartPage completely protects user’s privacy? StartPage does not collect or share any personal information. Your IP address is not recorded, nor your browser, computer platform, not even the words or phrases you search. However, they share the country of search origin with Google for localized results. They do not share information even with any third party, including its sponsored search results providers and advertisements. Check their StartPage privacy policy to know more in detail. #. Any drawbacks of StartPage? The only thing you might feel is that StartPage takes some time load the search results. This is because StartPage submits your search keywords or phrases to Google and then gets the results relayed to you. This might take some time and the searching will be slower. Another drawback is the lack of interactive results often called One Box. You won’t get weather, calculator, word origins directly into the results. #. Will you be completely safe with StartPage? StartPage only provides anonymous search results. As soon as you click from the results page, the visiting site can still track your identity. The service does provide proxy link for the results, however we recommend TOR browser to be completely safe. #. How does StartPage make money? StartPage pays to Google to use their official “Syndicated Web Search” feed and there are several other costs for running the company. To pay the bills, they place ads before and after the results. #. What is difference between StartPage, ixquick and DuckDuckGo? StartPage delivers you only Google search results whereas ixquick is a meta search engine which combines results from several other search engines. DuckDuckGo has their own search algorithm and utilizes their own proprietary technology. All three of them focus on users privacy. That’s all! Protect your identity and search anonymously without being tracked.
