Hey Paula,

Thanks for the comment, and your recommendation for StartMail. Appreciated.

Yandex has been embroiled in controversy related to the spreading of child sexual imagery: https://fortune.com/2020/01/17/yandex-russia-search-engine-child-exploitation-sexual-imagery/

Oh dear.

Hey JD,

We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. 🙂 Titles are tricky, if we use a more descriptive title it often ends up too long and is subsequently truncated in search results. Not good for SEO.

In this case, I thought I had covered the purpose of the article more than sufficiently by repeating over and over that this is for users who are looking for a more private alternative but would prefer to stick with the Google experience, even including words to that effect in the intro:

However, what many privacy-conscious users may not realize is that there are privacy-focused alternatives available that closely replicate the Google experience.

Regarding Startpage and System 1, let’s get the facts straight. The concerns you raise were discussed some time ago, at the time (or thereabouts) of the acquisition and, as far as I am aware, there has been zero evidence since to suggest those concerns were in any way justified. Anyone can easily look up Startpage’s privacy policy, which is transparent and extremely rigid, and decide for themselves.: https://www.startpage.com/en/privacy-policy/. Bearing in mind that in the Netherlands, where Startpage is based, privacy policies are legally binding and governed by the EU’s GDPR.

In the end, regardless of Startpage’s ownership history, it remains a much more private option than Google search.

Hi Jim, I’m not trying to be disrespectful to you. I like your articles here and always read them. However, The title of this article is “Privacy-Focused Alternatives To Google”, not “Google Experience like Alternatives to Google” If privacy is not the main concern, then why not just stick with Google? Google claims (https://safety.google/) that they are:

1)The safer way to search.
2) Protecting your privacy starts with the world’s most advanced security.

No one really takes that seriously (hence your article).

The facts are that:
1) System1 has acquired Startpage.
2) The history and business model of System1, includes gathering “as much data as possible” and profiling users.
3) The board of directors changed from old Startpage people (privacy focused) to System1 people (non-privacy focused).
4) The business models of System1 and a private search engine are contradictory.

Choosing a private search engine is largely about trust, and only you can decide who to trust. Since the business model of the StartPage owners (System1) is not privacy, how private is Startpage? Can you trust System1 not to make changes over time to lower privacy (if they haven’t already)?

I think you should at least mention to your readers that the new owners of Startpage do not have privacy as their business model.

there are privacy-focused alternatives available that closely replicate the Google experience.

the one I am recommending is Startpage which closely resembles the Google experience

for users who would prefer to stick with the Google experience

Also, you are still giving Google money and using Google’s biased searches.
I used to use Startpage, but switched to DuckDuckGo

Hey Baruch,

I’m sure you’ll like Startpage. Good decision.

Cheers Jonno. Right back at you.

Thank you, Jon! And same to you,
Richard