Startpage says Microsoft’s Toying with Search Engine Results Will “Sting Bing”
NEW YORK –Â Startpage.com, The World’s Most Private Search Engine, is welcoming Web users upset by revisions to Microsoft’s terms of service. Bing has announced new changes that suggest it will alter search results using cloud-based personal information.
According to Startpage, Microsoft is claiming unprecedented new powers over user data. Under the old terms, contents of emails sent through its Hotmail service might be used “solely to the extent necessary to provide the service.” Starting September 27, Microsoft can pry into Hotmail messages and its other cloud services, such as Skydrive, to profile users and deliver them targeted advertising — even change the search results they receive.
Startpage spokesperson Dr. Katherine Albrecht denounced Microsoft’s new policies.
“Hotmail users will be stunned to learn that their emails are now fair game,” she says. “People don’t like being spied on and served censored search results. If I send an email to somebody, I don’t expect my comments to be reflected in my search results the next day. Email messages should be private and so should search results, and the twain should never meet.”
Startpage plans to launch a competitor to Hotmail called Startmail early next year. “We want to give our users the security of knowing their email is never read and their search results are not biased or tampered with in any way. We don’t collect or store any personal information. Nada, zilch, zero,” said Albrecht.
The company anticipates Microsoft’s changes will ultimately “sting Bing” and drive even more Web users to Startpage and next year, to Startmail.
In the last year, Startpage searches have jumped 140 percent, to well over 2 million searches per day. Albrecht correlates the company’s impressive growth with the decline of privacy standards at other major search engines.
Privacy policy changes go hand-in-hand with search engine censorship, Albrecht notes. She says Web users are not only switching to Startpage for the outstanding privacy policies, but because they receive unbiased, outstanding search results.
About Startpage and Dr. Katherine Albrecht
Startpage by Ixquick is an award-winning search engine that is third-party certified and fully anonymous. Startpage boasts the best privacy policies on the Internet: No search records stored. No IP addresses recorded. No tracking cookies used.
Startpage has earned the coveted EuroPriSe “trust mark” for outstanding privacy and data handling practices. It is also certified by Certified Secure and registered with the Dutch Data Protection Authority.
It is the only search engine to offer a free proxy service, and the first to offer SSL encryption. For more information, please see http://www.startpage.com.
Dr. Katherine Albrecht is an internationally known consumer advocate, syndicated radio host, bestselling author, and the VP of Marketing for Startpage.com, The World’s Most Private Search Engine. Katherine holds a doctorate in Consumer Education from Harvard University.
