Startpage CEO äußert sich zum Shareholder System 1 LLC
Zur Erinnerung: In einer Presseerklärung hat Startpage im Oktober 2019 einen neuen Shareholder bekannt geben: System 1 LLC – ein Werbe- und Marketinganbieter, der mit dem Auswerten und Verarbeiten von Daten Umsatz generiert. In Anbetracht dieser Veränderung ist aktuell nicht klar, ob die Suchmaschine Startpage weiterhin empfehlenswert ist.
Der CEO (Robert E.G. Beens) von Startpage hat mich diesbezüglich am 06.07.2021 kontaktiert:
Dear Mike Kuketz,
Only recently I was made aware of two articles on your blog from 2019 that discuss the Investment that Startpage received from System1. I was sorry to read that the news about the investment made you lose trust in Startpage’s privacy protection at the time. As a privacy promotor, I agree that trust is the most important currency when it comes to privacy and data protection.
So, as the Founder and CEO of Startpage, I wanted to reach out to you directly and offer to answer any questions you may have on the matter that can help to restore that trust. Since 2006 I have been on a mission to create the world’s most private search engine and I feel we have always delivered on that promise. Our goal is to be completely transparent with people and provide as much information as possible on why we accepted the funds and how we are using them.
The investment has not changed our values, mission or the way that we work. Despite the concerns – which we understood and have taken very seriously – the System1 investment has not changed Startpage’s privacy practices or processes – nor will it change these in the future. We have arranged for any personal data to never leave our Dutch infrastructure as can be seen here: https://support.startpage.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1276/0/what-is-the-startpage-privacy-guarding-data-flow
Also, the final say in any privacy related decision has always remained with me.The investment has, however, enabled us to spread the word of privacy more effectively, like other less-privacy centric engines have always been able to do.
First by investing in the product more, like in the Anonymous View that offers a unique privacy feature:
https://www.startpage.com/de/anonymous-view/?t=default
https://support.startpage.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1185/0/the-anonymous-view-proxytechnical-details
But also by investing in a renewed outreach to spread awareness of our much needed privacy tool, most recently in Germany.I would be happy to answer any further questions you may have on a call or in writing.
Kind regards,
Robert E.G. Beens
CEO
Wie es ist im Hintergrund tatsächlich aussieht, ist natürlich nicht prüfbar. Die Nutzung (egal welcher Suchmaschine) ist und bleibt daher eine Vertrauensfrage. Jeder muss das für sich selbst entscheiden.
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