Startpage’s Privacy Protection Browser Extension Gives Consumers Control Over Online Data Collection and Tracking

Extension now available for Chrome and Firefox blocks third-party tracking cookies on websites, including those used in invasive ads, while offering best-in-class, private search results

Startpage, a search engine that lets anyone search online without personal data collection, tracking, or targeting, today unveiled the Startpage Privacy Protection browser extension. Available now for free download on Chrome and Firefox, the extension lets people browse the Internet more securely, automatically blocking first- and third-party trackers, while giving them more control over their browsing and searching experience.

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According to research, 87 percent of the world’s most popular web domains engage in digital tracking. In fact, according to Startpage’s analysis of the top 15 websites in the United States, leading news outlets CNN and Fox News had upwards of 40 trackers or cookies on their homepages. The Startpage Privacy Protection browser extension blocks these trackers and shields users from invasive targeted advertising with easy-to-use features that provide anyone with more control over their online privacy, including:

• Sends “Global Privacy Control” Signals: The extension sends Global Privacy Control (Do-Not-Track) signals to visited sites with your privacy preferences.
• Blocks “Data Collection”: The extension prohibits third-party sites from using special scripts to collect information about you.
• Provides Control Over Cookies: The extension stops trackers from being placed on search activities by advertisers and third parties entirely; or, unique compared to any other extensions on the market, enables users to enable cookies from certain domains as preferred or necessary.
• Replaces Invasive Social Defaults: The extension replaces social media, video, and music site tracking defaults with “click-to-activate” options, encouraging safer social media practices and delivering greater transparency.
• “True Score” Privacy Ranking: The extension evaluates and displays a 1-5 privacy rating based on each site’s privacy practices. While other extensions on the market boast their own scoring methods, Startpage is the only one that ranks sites before blockers are applied to expose the site’s true privacy reputation.
• Startpage Default: The extension sets the user’s default search engine to Startpage, ensuring searches are private, not saved, sold, or used for profiling but maintain the best results.

“From sensitive search queries like ‘how to get out of debt’ to social posts featuring your child’s face to e-commerce sites that stalk your holiday shopping habits, bits of personal data are saved and sold every second,” said Robert E.G. Beens, founder of Startpage. “Tech companies, search engines, social platforms, data brokers and advertisers have been profiting off this data collection at the expense of consumers for too long. With the Startpage Privacy Protection browser extension, we are proud to deliver the Startpage promise beyond just search, giving users an unmatched layer of protection against all the tracking and tagging with more control and transparency than ever.”

Startpage has shielded people’s personal data via the most private search engine for 15 years, helping millions of users daily search the web safely without sacrificing results. Today’s announcement is the most significant and extensive feature launch Startpage has released since Anonymous View private browsing in 2018 and now, in addition to blocking trackers and cookies, sending privacy signals, and disabling fingerprinting, the Startpage Privacy Protection extension is the only solution on the market that combines this level of privacy and control with best-in-class search results (via private Google search results).

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