A new search engine allows web users to search the web anonymously, automatically deleting all their personal search details.
Called Ixquick, the website collates the results of popular search engines such as Google, AOL and MSN, and displays the results on the same page.
Its creator said that as concerns around privacy and the use of search details by third parties increases, it believes its is important to remove all personal search details from its log, along with users' IP addresses ? the unique number that identifies individual computers.
It said more and more personal details are now stored by search engines and details such as search terms, website visits, times, dates and IP addresses can be retained for long periods.
Ixquick spokesman Alex van Eesteren said consumers can now be confident that their personal details will be erased after searching.
?Many search engines openly use personal data for commercial purposes. It seems only to be a question of time before data gets misused. We have decided to permanently delete all personal search records ? if the data is not stored, users privacy cannot be breached,? he said.
Although the site's meta-search searches 12 of the most popular search engines, user's personal details are not sent on to these companies, while IP addresses and unique user ID's are immediately deleted from log files.
http://www.ixquick.com