Start Page (Startpage.com) is a homepage that claims to be “the world’s safest search engine” and right beside it we find a small logo saying “enhanced by Google”…hard to imagine when you see these two side by side on the same page. If you dig through a bit, Startpage states that it does not record any personal information (such as IP address) and that it does not send any information of this kind to third parties, including Google. As it is impossible to verify this claim, the user is obligated to believe their word.
The most shameful thing about Start Page is that it installs itself onto users’ browsers. In fact, Start Page is often “offered” with pre-marked checkboxes on certain free software…breezing through the installation process could cause you to install startpage.com on all your browsers on your PC. To be fair, Microsoft uses the same technique with Bing (notably when you install their products, as is the case with Skype, for example).
Do you want a good alternative to Google or Bing? A search engine that doesn’t spy on you? We suggest DuckDuckGo which doesn’t impose itself to internet users.
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