• Home
  • News
  • Big Data & Analytics
  • DevOps
  • Security
  • GDPR
  • AI & ML
  • Women in Tech
  • Cloud & Infrastructure
  • CIO
  • Deskflix
  • Events
  • Whitepapers
  • Spotlights
  • IT Leaders 250
  • Research
  • Delta
  • Tech Marketing Hub
  • About Us
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
  •  
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
     
    • You are currently accessing Computing via your Enterprise account.

      If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

      If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

      Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

      Email: customerservices@incisivemedia.com

      • Sign in
     
  • Follow us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • Register
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
      event logo
      Deskflix Financial Services

      oin us for this episode of Deskflix to hear from industry experts and peers on their 2020 best practices, what they’ve learnt for 2021 and how they plan to overcome the next wave of disruption.

      • Date: 03 Mar 2021
      event logo
      Good listeners: Why conversational interfaces are now a must-have

      This webinar, featuring dedicated research, will explore how conversational interfaces can add value to your digital initiatives today. We discuss the benefits of putting the AI to work and the value of the conversational channel itself.

      • Date: 17 Mar 2021
      • Virtual Event,
      event logo
      Deskflix IT Leader's Summit

      Six months on from our inaugural IT Leaders’ Festival, Deskflix IT Leaders’ Summit is a chance to take stock and reflect on the first quarter of 2021. How did you overcome the obstacles of 2020? Was progression as expected? What were your biggest threats and biggest growth opportunities?

      • Date: 24 Mar 2021
      event logo
      Architect for the unknown: Is your database built for a crisis?

      This webinar, in which we’ll reveal Computing’s latest research in this area, reflects on how prepared our respondents’ data architecture was going into the pandemic and the role databases have to play in the ability to react and pivot in a crisis.

      • Date: 25 Mar 2021
      View all events
  • Whitepapers
    • LATEST WHITEPAPERS
      Darktrace 120x194
      Cyber AI Response: Threat Report 2019

      This white paper details 7 case studies of attacks that were intercepted and neutralised by Darktrace cyber defense AI, including a zero-day trojan in a manufacturing company's network. Learn how Darktrace Antigena AI Response modules fight back autonomously, no matter where a threat may emerge, extending to the Cloud, Email and SaaS.

      Download
      Darktrace 120x194
      Cyber AI & Darktrace Cloud

      This white paper explores how cloud is a security blind spot for many organisations who struggle with the limited visibility and control in this new environment, where their existing security tools are often not applicable.

      Download
      Find whitepapers
      Search by title or subject area
      View all whitepapers
  • Spotlights
    • Spotlights

      Welcome to Computing's Spotlight section, where we focus in on particularly important themes and topics of enterprise IT.

      Intel logo

       

      Endpoint Management and Security Hub

  • IT Leaders 250
  • Research
  • Delta
  • Tech Marketing Hub
  • About Us
Computing
Computing
  • Home
  • News
  • Big Data & Analytics
  • DevOps
  • Security
  • GDPR
  • AI & ML
  • Women in Tech
  • Cloud & Infrastructure
  • CIO
  • Deskflix
 
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
 
  • You are currently accessing Computing via your Enterprise account.

    If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

    If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

    Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

    Email: customerservices@incisivemedia.com

    • Sign in
 
  • Privacy

Privacy-focused search engine Startpage gives more details of the System1 investment

'System1 is interested in Startpage’s ad revenue, not its data', company says

Privacy-focused search engine Startpage gives more details of the System1 investment
  • John Leonard
  • John Leonard
  • @_JohnLeonard
  • 03 July 2020
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
0 Comments

At the start of the year, we reviewed a number of privacy-focused search engines and reported that one of the oldest contenders, Startpage, had been struck off a list of such tools by the site privacytools.io

The reason for this delisting was the purchase by US advertising company System1 of what was rumoured to be a controlling share of Startpage, followed by a perceived lack of transparency and a failure by the company to adequately explain the terms of the deal. Indeed, at the time our request for more information on the arrangements went unanswered.

However, Startpage has since been relisted on privacytools.io (albeit with a warning), and Startpage co-founder and CEO Robert Beens has come out swinging against other supposedly privacy-based engines, such as Neeva, a new startup setup by ex-Google employees which he refers to as "a hacker's dream, and a user's nightmare."

So, the company seems to have got its mojo back and seems to willing to say a little bit more about the System1 deal.

"System1 is interested in Startpage's ad revenue, not its data," the company said. "The reason a company like System1 openly owns other search engines and consumer tech products like Info.com and Mapquest is that they want to capture that ad revenue that is slowly shifting to private search engines. There has been a steady increase in people using private search engines and therefore a steady increase in their revenue. It is a growing market that they feel will continue to thrive and grow."

"In no way does System1 want to change the privacy practices or process by Startpage, in fact, they legally cannot as all of those decisions are held by the co-founders of Startpage."

Startpage is owned by Surfboard Holding BV, a privately held Dutch company. System1 invested in Surfboard Holding through a subsidiary called Privacy One Group (about which little information is publicly available bar a Delaware registration listing). Beens declined to declare the percentage of shares held by System1, saying this issue is complex, that Surfboard in a private company, and that anyway "any company can give you an overview today and change things tomorrow".

Regarding the danger of the US Cloud Act being used to extract data held by foreign companies, he added: "This is also irrelevant as first of all we don't store personal data of our users to begin with. Nor do we process any in the cloud."

The involvement of System1 will not change the way Startpage serves non-tracking, contextual, keyword-based ads and there will be no diminution of users' privacy, he added, insisting that it will give the firm more marketing firepower and should allow it to drive further improvements.

"The investment will give Startpage users a more robust private search engine. The investment has provided additional funds and resources (especially marketing expertise and connections) to create more traction for our product, especially in the US," Beens said.

Startpage searches are based on Google. The company pays Google to use its APIs but obfuscates users' details via a web proxy, removing all the trackers and logs. This hasn't changed, Beens insists.

"No server logs the details of your search. Third parties do not receive search data unless it's data related to clicking on a contextual ad."

However, there have been some changes to the way anonymised search requests are processed. Previously, Startpage managed these requests directly from its servers, passing the anonymised and fuzzed requests to Google. However, to cope with performance issues the company now has a two tier-set-up whereby after Startpage's servers have anonymised the requests, a second server actually sends the anonymised requests to Google and composes the HTML page returned.

This process has been externally audited and found not to introduce any new privacy risks, Beens said.

Startpage makes play of being based in Europe, where privacy laws are strong. Beens insists that US personnel do not have access to any machines that can establish a direct link to the fuzzing and anonymising servers. "They can only access machines in which PII [personally identifiable information] and search data has already been redacted. This is because of our concerns pertaining to the risk of US national security letters and gag orders."

According to this account, those worried about the privacy implications can rest a little easier. System1 seems to be seeing the way the wind is blowing, especially in Europe but also in states like California, and is hedging its plans accordingly. Recently, this statement appeared on its website. "We are actively building a suite of privacy-friendly products, including search engines, browsers and mapping, and we are very excited to provide these products to millions of users worldwide."

Earlier this year System1 acquired Firefox fork Waterfox.

  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Privacy
  • StartPage
  • Robert Beens
  • CLOUD Act
  • Privacy One Group
  • system1
  • Search engine

More on Privacy

Thank Zuck it's Friday #3
Thank Zuck it's Friday #3 - Data adequacy, Darktrace and 'spy pixels'

Join the Computing team for episode three of the podcast that gives you the lowdown on the hottest tech news of the week

  • Privacy
  • 19 February 2021
'Spy pixels' in emails can track engagement and location
'Spy pixels' in emails can track engagement and location

Even UK regulator the ICO was found to use tracking pixels

  • Privacy
  • 18 February 2021
Rights groups seek ban on biometric surveillance
Rights groups seek ban on biometric surveillance

'Biometric mass surveillance brings Internet-style omnipresent tracking to the offline world' say campaigners

  • Privacy
  • 17 February 2021
CBP scanned 23 million faces in 2020, and didn't find a single imposter
CBP scanned 23 million faces in 2020, and didn't find a single imposter

Despite scanning millions of people, Customs and Border Protection failed to identify anyone trying to enter the USA under a false ID

  • Privacy
  • 12 February 2021
Tiny favicons can track users' movements online
Tiny favicons can be utilised to track users' movements online

Favicons can store a unique ID which is not easily cleared by a user and which can bypass VPNs and other privacy tools

  • Privacy
  • 11 February 2021
blog comments powered by Disqus
Back to Top

Most read

'Silver Sparrow' malware infects about 30,000 Macs worldwide
'Silver Sparrow' malware infects about 30,000 Macs worldwide
NHS faces legal challenge over Palantir contract
NHS faces legal challenge over Palantir contract
Google fires AI ethics lead Margaret Mitchell
Google fires AI ethics lead Margaret Mitchell
UK tech jobs surpass pre-pandemic levels, despite rising unemployment
UK tech jobs surpass pre-pandemic levels, despite rising unemployment
Oxford University confirms breach of its Covid-19 lab
Oxford University confirms breach of its Covid-19 lab
  • Contact
  • Delta
  • Marketing solutions
  • Enterprise IT Events
  • Incisive Media
  • Terms & conditions
  • Policies
  • Careers
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

im_logo

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017
Loading