Was getting the emails up to date last night and I found this article on StartPage by ixquick . I’m unfamiliar with this browser and was just wondering if any other forum members were using it and would appreciate their opinions . I use Google Chrome and StartPage , at least according to the article , would be a better option for me .
One can turn off the data collection facilities of google…uncheck the web and activity function in https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols.
Might be easier that relying on a third party search engine running through Chrome.
The other thing to do is to review the privacy/cookie setting in Chrome and change them to something they you feel is acceptable for you.
Will do . Thanks for input .
Hi Mike
I have been using Startpage for quite some time now. It is both a search engine and a homepage (if you wish). The parent company is based in the Netherlands (Surfboard Holdings B.V.) and Ixquick is the US arm of the business.
It is easy to add to Firefox and just a tad more work to add to Chrome/Chromium browsers. Benefits are they don’t store IP addresses, searches, site visits, pretty much any information about you.
Secondly if you wish to visit a search result you can use their proxy to do so and you are free from cookies etc from the site visited. You can continue to surf with the proxy from the first page but it does slow browsing down and some pages do get broken by it.
Ixquick uses a similar engine to DuckDuckGo in that it searches using about 10 search engines and Startpage uses Google but strips your data and sending a POST request rather than a GET.
I do recommend you do turn off WebRTC in Firefox if you are using that browser and get an extension to block WebRTC in Chrome (WebRTC cannot be disabled natively in Chrome) ( https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/webrtc-leak-prevent/eiadekoaikejlgdbkbdfeijglgfdalml?hl=en )
If you want more info here is a link to a Q & A page Startpage has provided:
https://www.startpage.com/eng/protect-privacy-qa.html?&op=tn&prf=d0b9736068305ffe6500f2b538252627#q12
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Thanks Graham ,
Will have a good read through of the info you supplied me and give StartPage a try . Thanks again for all links forwarded .
Mike
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As always it is a pleasure to assist.
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Turning off whatever is possible in the standard feature set is a ‘good thing’ - but I’m a little cynical as to the efficacy of these ‘privacy solutions’ - cases like Lavabit (email) for example, questions about tor et al - how can we ever hope to truly know who is behind the services we use, and in some cases even the providers themselves have no idea who really works for them and/or who is dragnetting their content/comms. For every case we hear about, people prepared to risk breaching gag orders, how many either get swept under the carpet or are totally complicit to begin with (answer: many).
Ultimately, I think the entities/actors (state or non-state, or state with no oversight) with the resources to be of some potential risk to me have the resources to unravel my privacy in a very timely manner, regardless of what I do, and those without the resources are probably of only minor threat … and when an entity has said resources, it’s the people trying to hide who become ‘interesting’ to them 
Yes I use a VPN occasionally, and I turn off what I can (in the knowledge that it’s probably only the presentation of the data to me that is turned off) - but I know I have no privacy …
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If referring to turning off WebRTC this is because even when using VPNs, as I know Mike @vax2000 does, WebRTC by it’s design can leak your true IP address. Thus it is recommended you disable it in these circumstances.
Certainly if you don’t use a VPN or proxy then having WebRTC turned off is of no benefit and will possibly impact some usage of your browsing. See the following, if you are interested, for a bit of an explanation of what WebRTC does http://www.innoarchitech.com/what-is-webrtc-and-how-does-it-work/ .
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I just turn off a few basic things, I’m not into trying too hard - my cynicism kills it every time, I’ve seen too much to think privacy is even possible 
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Quick mention of “Privacy Badger” by the EFF - Chrome extension. Interesting …
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Hiya draughtrider
I love Privacy Badger, it is a fabulous extension that I use on Chrome and it has saved me from so many “nasties” and I am so thankful. I can highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be safe on the Internet.
Thanks for reminding us all about “Privacy Badger”…!
Cheers Natalie
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