Ixquick, a private search engine, and its US brand Startpage, has released a new proxy service that allows users to browse websites safely and anonymously, without passing on any private, personally identifiable information to the websites they view.
According to the company, the Ixquick proxy is a free service that works in conjunction with the Ixquick search engine, available at Ixquick website. When users perform a search, they will find a clickable ‘proxy’ option below each search result that enables Ixquick to act as an intermediary to retrieve the page and display it in a privacy-protected Ixquick window.
The company claims that the proxy offers complete anonymity, since the user never makes direct contact with the third-party website. The user’s IP address is invisible to the viewed website and in addition the website cannot see or place cookies on the user’s browser. Ixquick does not record IP addresses, make a record of users’ searches, or record details about proxy usage.
Robert Beens, CEO of Ixquick, said: People are more concerned about online data retention policies than ever before. We wanted to offer them a useful tool and this proxy is a logical extension of our services. A search engine is a starting point for people to visit other pages. Now our users can take the privacy they get with Ixquick to the next step, and go privately to the sites they have found as well. This proxy completes the total search privacy picture.
