| What Makes Ixquick Special |
| Search Like a Pro |
| Ixquick Protects Your Privacy ! |
 | Privacy Q & A |
| Privacy Policy |
| Add Ixquick to your Browser |
| Download the Ixquick Toolbar |
| Make Ixquick Your Homepage |
| A Search Box on Your Website |
| Tell a Friend About Ixquick |
| Contact Info |
| Company Backgrounder |
| Q & A |
| Management Bios |
| Let Us Know |
| IPD opt-out |
|
|
PRIVACY
Privacy Q & A
Q: Why did Ixquick decide to take leap steps in June 2006 and in January 2009? Beyond striving to offer our users the best Web search results possible, we also feel strongly about safeguarding their privacy. With other search engines, millions of law abiding citizens world wide expose themselves to serious invasions of privacy while performing innocuous searches across the internet.
We feel the right to privacy is a very important right, worth defending.
These were the principles that guided Ixquick's decision in June 2006 when we started our privacy initiative. Our determination to offer our users the best possible privacy search engine has only increased ever since. That’s why we are pleased we were able to stop recording IP addresses altogether in January 2009.
Q: Had Ixquick ever data mined its search data for commercial use before 2006? In its history before June 2006, Ixquick had never used IP addresses and Unique ID cookies for anything other than tracking its own statistics and improving our site's performance . Unlike most of our competitors, we are an independent company and unable to combine user data with other services we offer. As such, these records had no commercial value to us. Since June 2006, and especially after January 2009 there is nothing to mine.
Q: How does Ixquick make use of the limited logfiles it does keep? As a search engine, we log data for maintenance purposes like tracking site performance and statistics. Users' IP addresses are not logged, other data like the anonymous search queries are deleted from the log files within a maximum of 48 hours, often sooner.
Q: Why did Ixquick first delete user related data within 48 hours and now doesn't even record IP addresses at all anymore? Before January 2009 this was done for diagnostic and maintenance purposes. For example, if a site was abusing our servers and causing server overloads, our log files enabled us to trace and block the particular IP address responsible for the abuse. Our technicians have worked hard to develop alternative means to prevent abuse of our systems without the need to retain IP addresses of our legitimate users. We are very happy not recording their IP’s anymore.
Q: What is Ixquick's policy now with regard to IP addresses and the use of ID cookies? IP addresses: Ixquick does not record the IP addresses of our legitimate users.
Cookies: Ixquick abolished the use of Unique ID cookies as of June 6th, 2006.
Ixquick only uses an anonymous cookie that is used to remember the search engine settings, stored on the local PC, and a session-only cookie to prevent showing duplicate search results.
Q: Why is it so important not to store IP address or User ID cookie? People can either have a static IP address or a dynamic IP address that changes from day to day. If they have a static IP address, one can reconstruct their search history with just that IP address. If they have a dynamic IP address one can reconstruct their search history for today but not for yesterday. The user's ISP, however, can provide the missing link between the various IP addresses. The Unique user ID can also be used to tie the different IP addresses together.
So the IP address is unique to the specific computer or router, but may change from day to day. The User ID is unique for one specific search engine or website.
The combination of the both delivers extensive possibilities to track users' behavior, especially for internet conglomerates with multiple services where the users information can be combined.
Tracking within a site is typically done with the aim of producing usage statistics, while tracking across sites with so-called third party cookies, is typically done by advertising companies to produce anonymous user profiles. These profiles are then used to target advertising (deciding which advertising image to show) based on the user's profile. But advertising companies are just one of many groups that may take an interest in user profiles. Ixquick deletes both the IP address and the User ID cookie. Ixquick does not record IP addresses or use Unique ID cookies.
Q: It is great Ixquick does not store my IP address, but what about any third parties? Ixquick does not share your personal information with any third party including other search engines and the provider of its sponsored results.
Q: How does Ixquick make money if it doesn't store or sell my personal data? Ixquick shows a limited amount of relevant sponsored results on the top and the bottom of the results page.
Each time these sponsored results are clicked upon Iquick receives a minimal fee from the advertiser.
Q: How can i be sure Ixquick fulfills it's promises? Our Privacy Policy is routinely being confirmed by two independent organizations, Europrise and Certified Secure. For mor information please click on either of their logo's above.
Q: What are "cookies" and does Ixquick use any? A cookie is a small piece of data that is sent and saved to your computers' hard drive when visiting a site. Ixquick uses only 2 cookies. The "preferences" cookie is to remember the search preferences you saved for your next visit. It expires after 90 days. The "exclude repetitive results" cookie prevents the same results from being shown when you perform a follow up search with the same search term. It expires immediately at the end of your search session. Both cookies are anonymous.
Q: What other measures has Ixquick taken to protect my Privacy? Contrary to other search engines Ixquick uses the so-called POST method (instead of the GET method) to keep your search terms out of the logs of webmasters of sites that you reach from our results. Search terms tell a lot about what you are thinking, which is why this is a privacy issue. With the POST method Ixquick uses, your search terms are stripped off.
Q: Does Ixquick support SSL? Yes, Ixquick servers have been enabled to handle https requests using SSL.
Secure Socket Layer is an encryption protocol that is available in almost all browsers.
It establishes a secure connection between your browser and Ixquick's servers.
Ixquick uses SSL to hide your search terms from anyone who might be monitoring traffic between your browser and Ixquick's servers. The only drawback of using SSL is a slightly longer processing time.
Q: Where are Ixquick's servers located? Ixquick has multiple servers in two locations. Our European servers are located in Amsterdam -the Netherlands. Ixquick's USA servers are located in Fremont, California.
Ixquick will normally connect you with the server that is closest to you in order to get you the shortest response time possible.
Q: How can I learn more about the privacy issues with other search engines? Search engines are frequently silent on their efforts to use and combine data. Their privacy policies may provide some guidance as to their intentions. So the best to do is look for the privacy policies. Ixquick's privacy policy is crystal clear, and can be found here.
Q: Why are other search engines not yet following Ixquick's lead? After the AOL story some search engines quickly commented they will not give up recording the privacy data of its users.
Ixquick's competitors are generally very large and often publicly owned search engines.Such a large share of these company's valuations is based on their ability to mine data from their users, they cannot afford to give the practice up. Commercial pressures to increase effectiveness of advertising and other commercial services, and the profit opportunities that arise by combining data collected across multiple services will ultimately drive these companies to make even greater impositions on your privacy. Even though lately announcements have been made by Yahoo, Google and MSN to lower data retention time, their true intentions can be questioned. The way in which IP addresses are made “anonymous” and the ability to continue to combine search data through the use of ID cookies and logins make these promises far less positive than they seem. Read more here.
Q: Where can I find more background information on these privacy issues? The web sites of various privacy organisations are a great starting point for locating an abundance of background information on this subject. Ixquick recommends:
http://privacyrights.org/
http://www.eff.org/
http://epic.org
http://worldprivacyforum.org/
Q: What is Ixquick's view for the near future when it comes to search engine privacy? We see an increasing threat to online privacy in general and search engine users' privacy in particular. Ad networks, search engines and government agencies have all stepped up their efforts to exploit private search data. Positive is that consumer awareness is also slowly but surely rising. The resulting political pressure (especially in the EU) may help to force the larger search engine to change their privacy policies for the better. There is only one real solution to this problem: not storing or quickly deleting the data. Only then is data safe from future privacy breaches.
Ixquick will wholeheartedly continue on its mission to offer you great search results in the best possible privacy!
