Google and other search engines track what users search; over time, the data collected can be pretty revealing, so much so that the DOJ wants access. For the most part, privacy policies are only as good as the lawyers backing them, and “law of the land” can trump anything. And all of that adds up to worrisome prospects for all of us.
But what if no data were collected to begin with?
That’s the approach Starting Page is taking. Starting today, they claim to serve as a sort of middle-man between you and Google that keeps no records or data on their own at all. So even if they were subpoenaed by, say, the DoJ, they’d have none of your search data to hand over. And all Google knows is someone made a search from Starting Page, but there’s no way for them to know whose searches are whose. Starting Page even has a Firefox plugin that uses HTTPS for the browser search bar.