Ixquick is a Dutch meta search engine which runs queries through existing search engines, and is committed to deleting user data to protect their privacy.
The Privacy Seal is an award from EuroPriSe, whose members include the Independent Centre for Privacy Protection Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, the data protection authorities from Madrid and France, the Austrian Academy of Science and the London Metropolitan University.
Ixquick chief executive Robert Beens told this week's edition of OUT-LAW Radio that the award was an important validation that his company follows through on its privacy pledges.
"It's the ultimate proof to our users that Ixquick does what we say we're doing," said Beens. "It's the proof we live up to our promises."
Ixquick is a 10-year-old search engine but in 2006 Beens decided to make privacy its defining feature.
"In June of 2006 we were the first search engine to start deleting our users' privacy sensitive details from our log files," said Beens. "It started when I was doing a legal view of the company and I tried to do an in-depth investigation of our own liabilities and one of them was our keeping of user data."
"So I asked the technology people what exactly are we keeping and why are we keeping those data?" said Beens. "I said, 'Why are we keeping those data?' – and they didn't give me a good answer."
This article was contributed to ITproportal.com by http://www.OUT-LAW.com.
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