Why we don’t collect any "personal data" It’s the best way to safeguard your privacy. If information isn’t collected, it can’t be stolen, demanded, leaked or abused.

How do we define "personal data?" To maximize your privacy, we use a broad definition. Our definition of personal data is based on the privacy laws and regulations of the EU, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These are widely regarded as the strongest privacy protections in the world. We consider any information about you or your behavior that can be traced back to you as personal data. Information we don’t collect

So let’s be perfectly clear: We don’t record your IP address

The only exception is for automated search requests (robots) that rapidly submit more queries to our servers than any normal human would. When our software detects potential abuse, we register and block the offending IP address in order to keep our service safe and free.





The only exception is for automated search requests (robots) that rapidly submit more queries to our servers than any normal human would. When our software detects potential abuse, we register and block the offending IP address in order to keep our service safe and free. We don’t serve any tracking or identifying cookies

This is about "good" and "bad" cookies . Cookies are small pieces of data that are sent to your hard drive by websites you visit."Bad" cookies have unique elements that can track all kinds of personal information. We don’t serve any of those. Startpage.com uses just one "good" cookie called "preferences" in order to remember the search preferences you choose. It’s completely anonymous and expires after not visiting Startpage.com for 90 days.

We don’t record your search queries Saves us headaches and disk space. When you search, your query is automatically stripped of unnecessary metadata including your IP address and other identifying information. We send the anonymized search query to Google and return the search results to you. We don’t log your searches.

To prevent abuse such as robotic high-volume querying, we anonymously determine the frequency of popular search keywords as a part of our anti-abuse measures, while protecting your privacy.

How we have implemented truly anonymous analytics We only count aggregate numbers. We do measure overall traffic numbers and some other – strictly anonymous – statistics. These stats may include the number of times our service is accessed by a certain operating system, a type of browser, a language, etc., but we don’t know anything about individual users.

How we keep Startpage.com free without using "personal data" Without tracking-ads - as we don’t share personal info with anyone. Most online advertising today is personalized, meaning that online advertising services track what you do online and profile you in order to serve tailored ads. We don’t do that at Startpage.com. No tracking. No profiling! Our search result pages may include a small number of clearly labeled "sponsored links," which generate revenue and cover our operational costs. Those links are retrieved from platforms such as Google AdSense. In order to enable the prevention of click fraud, some non-identifying system information is shared, but because we never share personal information or information that could uniquely identify you, the ads we display are not connected to any individual user. It’s a myth that search engines need to profile you in order to earn decent money. Startpage.com serves strictly non-personalized ads. Sure, our ads make only a fraction of what other search engine ads make, but they pay all our bills.

We protect you on our site – and beyond This privacy policy applies only to the Startpage.com website. Once you click on a search result, you leave our site and our privacy protection. This is true for sponsored links, search results and other external links. Unless … you use our "Anonymous View" feature - shown behind the search results. This is a great privacy tool that allows you to continue to browse in full privacy.

We don’t disclose or sell your contact information You ask for support, not spam. When you contact us via email or through our support center, we’ll use your contact information to respond to you. We won’t sell or share this info with anyone else. You’ll have the option to subscribe to our newsletter, from which you can unsubscribe at any time.

How we respond to governmental requests for data They can’t request what we don’t have. Any request will have to come from Dutch judicial authorities. We’ll only comply if we’re legally obliged to do so. But we’re not likely to receive requests by governments to hand over user data – simply because we don’t have any.

We will never comply with any voluntary surveillance program Big Brother would like some help? Hell no! Fortunately, we are based in the EU, where we have strong laws that protect your right to privacy. European governments can’t legally force service providers like Startpage.com to implement a blanket spying program.

Startpage.com complies with the GDPR And we can help you comply, too. We are located in the EU, and we fully comply with applicable privacy laws and regulations of the EU, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These are widely regarded as the strongest privacy protections in the world. Looking for a quick win to improve your own GDPR compliance? Setting Startpage.com as the default search engine on all your organization’s IT equipment will help you minimize the amount of personal data that is processed by or for your organization. This can also help you implement important privacy principles, such as data minimization, storage limitation, privacy by design and privacy by default.

In the EU you have a “right to be forgotten” When enough is enough. Citizens in the EU have the right to request the deletion of search results that disclose their personal data when those results are inaccurate or no longer relevant. Find out how we have implemented this right here.

Dutch Data Protection Authority We are always here to help If you have any feedback or complaint about our services in general, or more specifically about how your privacy is protected when you use our services, please let us know via the contact details below. In accordance with EU privacy laws and regulations, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the national supervisory authority responsible for the protection of personal data if you think we have unlawfully processed your personal data. For the Netherlands, this supervisory authority is the Dutch Data Protection Authority, which you can contact here.