Use the Search Engine Called StartPage to Protect Your Privacy [1]
Are you concerned about all the tracking of what we do on the internet? Would you like to use Google search but don’t want Google recording where you are and what searches you make? Then give a try to the search engine “StartPage”.
StartPage [3] is based in the Netherlands and says that they are not subject to government snooping. According to their privacy statement [4], no records of user data are kept. They do not know who you are. Your IP and geographical location are not recorded. No tracking cookies are used. So they have no information to give to anybody, even if they are asked.
StartPage actually uses Google for its searches but acts as an intermediary to protect your privacy. When you search with StartPage, all identifying information from your query is removed and it is submitted anonymously to Google. StartPage then gets the results back and relays them to you.
Because there are extra steps and information has to go back and forth through an intermediary, searching will be slower. I suspect StartPage is getting a lot more traffic because of recent revelations about NSA. Page loading may be slow but, if privacy is a concern for you, this is a search engine that is worth looking at.
The link for StartPage search is here [3]. Their privacy statement is at this link [4].
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