Ixquick, the private search engine, received praise for its outstanding security and data handling practices last week from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)*.

EFF praised Ixquick for its “truly excellent privacy policy,” which experts regularly cite as the best in the industry. Ixquick is the only major search engine that does not record users’ IP addresses or make a record of their searches, as verified by a third-party auditing firm. EFF also praised Ixquick for supporting HTPPS, a security feature that prevents data from being eavesdropped upon as it moves across the internet.

The HTTPS protocol encrypts users’ search queries to protect against eavesdropping by a users’ local Internet service provider, as well as eavesdropping by any third parties. For example, a user in China could search for “Tiananmen Square” without Chinese authorities being able to intercept the query. Of the major search engines, only Ixquick offers the feature.

“We hope that some day, the major search engines can catch up with Ixquick,” said EFF technical analyst Peter Eckersley, noting that Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft do not offer the HTTPS service.

Computer users concerned about privacy should also be aware that Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft record every search query made through their websites and link them to the user’s IP address and cookies–a practice that has come under fire from both privacy and government groups. In contrast, Ixquick allows for fully anonymous, private searches, since it does not record any personal data on its users.

People wishing to use the Ixquick search engine can go to http://www.ixquick.com.

They may also utilize the HTTPS encryption feature by going to https://www.ixquick.com

(Note the addition of the letter “s” after “http” in the HTTPS encrypted site.)

*The Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org) is a leading privacy watchdog group that employs an expert staff of lawyers, policy analysts, activists, and technologists. Through legal action, education, media, and legislative efforts, EFF has championed the public interest in critical battles affecting digital rights since 1990. EFF’s analysis and comments about HTTPS, including statements about Ixquick, can be found online at: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/06/several-facts-about-

Source: Ixquick