Startpage and Vivaldi bring more privacy to your search
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After a while with Startpage, it's important to note that not everything you search with google you get the same results with Startpage (since it essentially use Google search results while staying private). This is true with some forum websites and such. If you spend the time comparing results with Google then you'll eventually notice you might not get the same results, which some users expect with Startpage. Just saying. Still a great option though.
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I mean, it's a new thing sure, but also: https://blog.privacytools.io/delisting-startpage/
Don't know if is a "right move" to claim more privacy...
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Ha ha ha! Server overloaded...
Edit: never mind - temporary glitch, it seems.
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By the way, "founded in the Netherlands in 2006" - I think that's just the current parent company. Startpagina.nl was a popular service way before I left the Netherlands in 2004...
Edit (again!): Oh... seems to be (deliberately?) confusing since they are both services originating in the same country in the same year (1998) with basically the same name (one "in Dutch") - but they are not actually linked. My bad.
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@djprmf: I found this: https://blog.privacytools.io/relisting-startpage/
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How to make clicking link open in the same page and not go to a new tab?
edit- you can change it by opening Startpage setting. -
@xypher: That's largely because Google tracks your web usage and provides answers that it thinks you want, based on previous search history and web sites that you visit.
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@Xypher , it's the so called bubble filter of Google, it puts the most search in first places. You have the same results as in Google with Startpage, but not in the same orden, because it is neutral.
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Oddly enough I have been using Startpage since before it was Startpage. At that time it was Ixquick based in the US but bought by a Dutch company in 2000.
In 2006 it became "private" having issues with google tracking and information collection.
It became Startpage again in 2013-14(?) and near that time opened US offices again.
It has been around for a while and for me has always been more relevant than the big g. -
@bodozs Thats a good point, and indeed the company have answer some of the privacy question.... but not all.
There are still some things to point out. Is a good search engine, no doubt. But still.... -
I like Startpage. I wish they'd make some kind of iGoogle alternative home page with widgets and RSS feeds, that would be awesome. I've been using Start.me for some years now, but it's lacking in terms of speed and features.
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@djprmf: I feel the same and that's why I've made the switch from Startpage to DuckDuckGo after the acquisition has been announced. I still have my doubts and while the relisting of Startpage to PrivacyTools helps, I'm still not completely confident in it again, so I'll stick with DuckDuckGo just for now.
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@hellbillydeluxe: I had the same concerns but switched back the moment I ready the above link re: relisting last week. The reason: DDG results just aren't up to par with what I get from Startpage. I'd been using DDG as my main since they announced the acquisition but would still need to use Startpage if I was in a pinch and needed an answer right way without looking through the top 10-15 results, it was just more accurate.
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Startpage remains the most private search engine, despite everything. It does not save logs, nor does it have trackers and everything goes through proxies, which prevents even visiting some pages that do not allow anonymous access directly.
There are others, like Swisscows or Metager, perhaps even more private, but which have rather poor search results and are too 'family friendly' (Flanders level) not configurable, perhaps they can be used by young children. -
@t0ken407: I use DDG as my main search engine, and check with Startpage if DDG result is not good enough.
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@Catweazle Metager does not seem to to be family friendly.
For a short test I searched for some of the further down ranked Alexa pr0n sites - and I found and all of them were contained in the search results.
That's not what I call Flanders level.Apart from that: Why did Startpage let it's EU privacy certification expire in 2017?
https://www.european-privacy-seal.eu/EPS-en/ixquick-Startpage
No further recertification was made. -
@QuHno , https://www.startpage.com/en/privacy-policy/
It is clear that ixquick has stopped subscribing to the European regulations, as it is no longer maintained as such, going to Startpage.
Startpage is a European company and must therefore comply with the European privacy regulations, yes or yes.I may have confused Metager with Swisscows, I haven't used them for a long time. Swisscows is Flanders level, but Metager is not a very effective search engine either and therefore I have stopped using it.
The configurations of both, however, leave much to be desired. -
@Catweazle I have read their privacy policy too, but I didn't ask for their privacy policy but about the official certification. Advertising that would have been really helpful to get traction.
Apart from that:
The search in Vivaldi does not use POST for Startpage, so everyone (especially your ISP) can read what you are searching for, because it is submitted by GET request. If you want maximum privacy for searches from the address bar or the search field, you should go to Settings > Search > Startpage and set it to use POST or else your search terms are submitted like thishttps://www.startpage.com/do/search?q=the+search+term&segment=startpage.vivaldi
whereas when you use POST the only part of the address someone who is snooping sees is
https://www.startpage.com/do/search
and the rest including the query is inside of the encrypted body of the TCP/IP packet and does not get blurted out in clear text.
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@QuHno , I know, Startpage itself has it activated by default. Startpage has to have the certificate to be able to work in the CE, the mentioned article refers to ixquick that no longer exists.
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@Catweazle Have a look at Searx. I liked, hated, liked, hated it, & now love it once i deduced how to permanently save all my myriad granular search [& search engine] preferences for it directly into V's custom SE settings. I first discovered & tried hard to use it during the many months i'd dropped V for FF-Nightly, but it was an exercise in pure frustration as i could not make FF remember all my preferences for it. Once i returned to V-SS, & remembered its fab SE customisation, Searx became my happy default. I thus have multiple SEs simultaneously with it [including gaggle], & yet afaik the same privacy as i had with DDG, SwissCows etc. Cake, eat.
Fyi:
https://search.disroot.org/?preferences=eJx1VE1v2zAM_TXzxciwroedfBg2DCswoMWa7SowEmNzkcVAlJN6v35U_JmmuzgRPx4fnygmPmCQqogonU9iOJiAZ5NgV30DL1g4JqNO9ieMlVjaNN3ufToXHkLdQY0VhsKzBX_550hg59GZo-9qUuDf1G48HdA0nA7Yy7uPXx6PGMxQz3gKh7noLvJZMObiUlCr4OYY-aWvtrHDArrEltujx4RVzVx7LAT2KAjRNtWHIjXYYsViIRYYrmlsI9iDQv_6-UNLt6zNKJOHsKdACY3YyN6r5ft2-_SsEeeoZj0_o98bDePYQiIOcrHlgpm0hYQ1x94IerRp6u2ztShivj4-TEiLLhiUD0q1j4il8D6dIWLpKGp-RjKUYU4MyRhhS-DLFh2BGimAMSdyyJlFROfoNqgLcvQgjQJlAXPkoFWp5r6E41GM2ZO_eBzVu7Qca6qVJIiaagwYISvSwC5C_ozUQg_wH_C2E7LGXH7UZa3dpNMblBfwGvGQqEW5Ap8AWtJryRqVYMFhm8F1AjFYXMjP6COT4byyg62Fu9vAgTKfCNfRdy-r5lzn9DpXfAXRHVHnaOHIf7SHdcxUb0ZZkm6UmGNQR5_cGmYPkdnkd5H9nvQWYl9mv5BcaTi0I7ZhD3GtUB5TOmF5HT_xmzrYUdp1-jjSeAf7qG-SwK7YJT70nFgaPkBYMkeKN1SGvFX-cK1z923f6hPUblKEIF4fkXuL4DyWA2pWYtajudhGxovAU8pQcDq9oj_zGCdoaudV2JQt-DdAezUFFkIsJcXOpi7mThfNp5sdeQ7LybLDMn9Gwnf3959e1kRcXTq87KK8Y-Za8xqbtkY9tj35W0wNu-rp8XlbjMuIctjovuzCjaRel7PnmjKF0z-ZGT3e&q=%s
To @QuHno
Your post [about POST, teehee] above captivated me, & has given me a day of angst. I now see that my Searx string per above is a GET not a POST. I've been confused about these things for years, so your post educated me. Now i feel torn; you've helped me see that this is notionally less private, which ordinarily i would reflexively leap into action about. However, with all my ~dozen search engines using GET, i love the fact that the resultant tab automatically gains the name of my search subject [thus applying to all the stacked-tabs that i open via middle-click from said search results tab]. By contrast it seems that if i use POST, the resultant tabs unhelpfully only get labelled generically with the Start Engine's name. The privacy part of me wants me to change them all to POST, but the convenience part of me rebels against that idea. It's a dilemma i've not yet resolved.