InformAction Forums

The previous thread on this topic became diverted by the special needs of one user, whom of course we were happy to help.

Since then, I've been pointed to https://startpage.com , which has impressive privacy features *and* includes Google results, which the previous recommendation, DuckDuckGo, did not. Some users noted that Duck did not provide nearly as many results as Google. Startpage, which is now this writer's first choice, does indeed seem to match Google results, with less garbage on the page as an added benefit.

User comments, both pro and con, are welcome as always.
- Tom

thanks for this suggestion! it's now my home and default

ddg is good but it seems like startpage is able to dig a bit deeper or wider or ?

i'll still use a bookmarked ddg 'goodies' page but i enjoy the conveniently located advanced file type, *time-frame, and image search offered by startpage.

again thanks for the heads up

*i don't have much need for proxy's but the view by proxy might come in handy the next time i need to research 'sensitive' current event type stuff

North60 wrote:ddg is good but it seems like startpage is able to dig a bit deeper or wider or ?

Startpage says that they actually include Google results.
As did my previous default, Scroogle, but Google deliberately shut down Scroogle, by blocking requests from Scroogle's servers.

Scroogle also reported lenghty Denial of Service attacks (DoS = many flooding the server with requests until it runs out of capacity.)

I'm not aware of any evidence linking Google to this, and certainly *not* accusing them of orchestrating or even sanctioning this, but I'm having a hard time trying to think of who else has a motive.... Which, of course, still does not implicate Google.

*i don't have much need for proxy's but the view by proxy might come in handy the next time i need to research 'sensitive' current event type stuff

I tried the proxy, and it's extremely slow. The default privacy features seem adequate for most things, but agree that having the proxy service available could come in handy for highly-sensitive searches.

Thanks for the comments. Would like to hear from more users, pro and con, to know whether to continue to recommend this service.
(My own personal recommendation, not the Forum's, Giorgio Maone's, etc.)