relist StartPage in Search Engines

[danarel]

Resolves: #1562

This is still a topic in discussion, but this pull request would complete the relisting of StartPage should we choose to do so.

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[Mikaela]

The PR looks good to me, however as I am still indifferent about the StartPage issue, I am not giving my approval and intent to keep commenting.

Behind StartPage is a European company that has been obsessive about privacy since 2006.

This seems a bit strange description to me.

[danarel]

That sentence was copied from the previous description before de-listing.

[jonaharagon]

I think, personally, Startpage (unlike some other companies) has been very forthcoming with the privacy community. Their response adds clarity to the situation and they are obviously now keeping track of this issue very closely.

I dislike how this information was not communicated from the start, but ever since I have had no trouble communicating with them regarding these issues. I would probably be fine with relisting them as a search engine provider at this time.

#1562 (comment)

[LizMcIntyre]

Dan is right that the wording "Behind StartPage is a European company that has been obsessive about privacy since 2006" is very old. I agree with Mikaela that it's "strange" since we know Startpage is now majority owned by U.S. company System1.

For the sake of transparency, I believe the wording should be changed so consumers don't mistakenly believe Startpage is subject only to EU privacy laws. (It's a gray area, I'd say.) This matters A LOT to some people, and PTIO doesn't want to lose trust.

It's wise that you've gone with Dan Arel's earlier warning label recommendation for Startpage over ownership. I agree that consumers should be informed that Startpage (via the holding company) is now majority owned by System1 and that System1 is involved in day-to-day processing of search data. (See the small print in that diagram that notes user personal information is fuzzed).

I recommend sharing a link to System1 instead of or in addition to the Startpage explanation now linked so consumers can evaluate System1 ownership themselves.The current link only refers to System1 as "a consumer internet company with a lot of search engine experience." Some consumers could feel misled when they find out that System1 is actually a pay-per-click behavioral advertising company.

I'm just seeing this github action now and apologize for the late input. It might be a good idea to post proposed new listings or delistings in the regular PTIO community area and at r/privacytoolsio so more community participants can see them and provide input in a timely manner. I know some community members avoid using github now that it's owned by Microsoft.

[danarel]

Made an update to today to match the removal of JiveSearch to keep my fork up to date.

[jonaharagon]

I am again very happy with merging this PR ASAP :)

unrelated: also...

Before anyone throws the blame around, I hid the off-topic posts in this thread, they were not adding anything beneficial to our discussion :)

[dawidpotocki]

em ot enif skool

[dawidpotocki]

fsck it

[dawidpotocki]

gnorw si siht ecnahc %99 ylno si ereht won