Startpage says it licenses Google’s results but gives us privacy. So, if you want Google-level, Google-biased results, but don’t want their tracking, you use Startpage.
Um, no. Let’s just take a random search for a screenwriter I once mentioned on this blog:
It’s quite a bit slower than Google, too. The results are usually geographically biased, even when you have the region switched off.
What’s curious is that, at the same location with the same IP address, I get six Google results on desktop and 16 on mobile. I’m not sure what the sense is in that.
I realize there are a lot of mobile users, but it seems strange to limit what can be found on the desktop version. Surely the opposite would make sense since not all sites are mobile-optimized?
It’s like Google Maps: for me, it’s not accessible on a cellphone any more (and hasn’t been for months—I discovered this when Amanda and I went on holiday at the end of August and there was no Google Maps anywhere in the country) but remains available on a desktop. The geniuses at Google do realize that people are more likely visiting Maps on a phone than sitting in their offices, right?
It doesn’t matter where I try, even from the office network: Google Maps is not available on my phone. The site is not just unavailable, it doesn’t even resolve (whether you use maps.google.com or google.com/maps).
Usually I find that expecting the opposite of what US Big Tech says is really useful.
Better use paper maps, because the satellites are often switched off and the map programs on your phone think you are nowhere!
Coming back to the original topic, Startpage says it pays Google for this.
Better ask for a refund, folks.
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