Ixquick again leads the industry with a zero-data retention policy.

Brussels/New York/Zeist January 28th, 2009
Ixquick (www.ixquick.com) announces it has stopped recording users’ IP addresses completely. With this new policy Ixquick further enhances its longtime leadership on privacy.

Privacy on the Internet is increasingly under attack, as searches and visits are routinely recorded and combined into personal and behavioral profiles by the major search engines.
While you are searching the internet, these engines register the time of your searches, the terms you used, the sites you visited and your IP address. In many cases this IP address makes it possible to trace the computer, and in turn the household, that carried out the search.

Previously Ixquick deleted the privacy details of its users within 48 hours.
As of today - Data Protection Day 2009 - IP addresses are not recorded at all anymore.
The technical need to store IP addresses for 48 hours - blocking automated use of Ixquick’s servers - has been overcome by recent technological developments.

“At Ixquick we feel people have a fundamental right to privacy” says CEO Robert Beens.
“Using a search engine is sharing your innermost secrets and habits which should be safe. Ixquick has the best privacy policy of the search industry. Today it has become even better.”

Under pressure from European regulators, privacy organizations and rising public concerns, the major search engines Yahoo, Google and MSN have offered to lower their data retention times to between three and 18 months. But Beens warns: “With privacy the devil is in the details.
These engines use logins and unique ID cookies that are automatically placed on your computer when you search. Both techniques can “glue” your searches together far beyond the officially claimed retention periods. That’s why Ixquick doesn’t use either of these methods.”

Ixquick further enhances privacy by offering a secure connection using the https protocol which prevents eavesdropping on Ixquick users and expects to launch a so-called “proxy” service in the next few months that makes it possible to browse the Web in full anonymity.
In July of 2008 Ixquick was awarded the first European Privacy Seal for its efforts.
“We are very proud of that award.” says Beens. “It is the ultimate proof that we live up to our promises. If people search with Ixquick - they get the best results - in full privacy.”

About Ixquick
Ixquick is an international award-winning search engine with an industry leading Privacy Policy. Launched on the Web in 1998, Ixquick is owned by Surfboard Holding BV, a Dutch company. Further information on Ixquick can be found at www.ixquick.com

Further information on the EU Privacy Seal can be found at http://www.european-privacy-seal.eu/about-europrise