Re: [tor-talk] So much for using ixquick and Startpage: Now broken w/Tor

[Soul Plane <soulplane11@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 9:50 AM, Ãyvind Saether <oyvinds@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> https://startpage.com/do/search is also broken.
>
> It is interesting how they decided that today (the day after those
> darknet raids) would be a good day to ban Tor-users.
>

Does anyone know anyone at startpage, maybe you should CC them this. I just
tried the startpage search box in Iceweasel in Tails and I receive a
message directed at Tor users whenever I try to search. I will paste the
message below. Unfortunately it does not appear just once, it appears every
time and I can't get search results that way. I wouldn't mind answering a
captcha once in a while but I don't know how much that's going to help them
against bots since bots apparently use opencv and tricks to break captchas.

Here is the message, it's long:

Welcome Tor Users!

We are happy to welcome you to Startpage, the world's most private search
engine. Startpage now serves well over 2 million searches per day, making
us the biggest private search service on the Internet.

Like Tor, Startpage was private long before privacy was cool. We have a
fourteen-year company track record, and we are the only search engine that
can back up our privacy promises with third-party certification.

Here are just a few of our powerful, privacy-protecting features:

    We do not record anything about you â not your IP address, not your
search queries, and we never use tracking cookies.
    We provide 100% Google results â We submit your search anonymously to
Google and return their results to you in total privacy.
    We encrypt all traffic â using HTTPS, so even your ISP can't snoop on
your searches.
    We offer a powerful free proxy â that lets you anonymously view
third-party websites with every search.
    We're third-party certified and independently audited â by EuroPrise
and Certified Secure, so you can take our privacy promises to the bank.

We love Tor!

We believe in the Tor project and its privacy mission and we applaud your
efforts to pursue serious Internet privacy.

As you know, Tor recently included Startpage as the default search engine
in the new Tor Browser Bundles. Thank you! We're honored to be associated
with all of you like-minded, hard-core privacy fanatics.
Just One Small Catch...

However, the avalanche of new Tor users has created an issue with the
algorithm we use to detect and reject automated screen-scraping programs.
When multiple Tor users are searching through the same end node, Startpage
may wrongly conclude that the searches are coming from a scraper.

The unfortunate result is that Startpage may occasionally not return
results with Tor. But don't panic, we're committed to fixing it.
Here's a Temporary Solution

We are reaching out to the Tor developers to find a permanent solution. In
the meantime, here is a workaround for Tor users:

    If you use the Tor Browser Bundle:
        Switching to a new Tor identity is easy and fast. Click the green
onion icon next to your address bar, then click "New Identity" and try your
search again. In some cases, you may have to switch identities a few times
for this to work.

We want Tor users to have a great private search experience with Startpage,
and we appreciate your patience while we develop a long-term solution. As
you use Startpage, we'd love to hear from you and get your impressions.

Meanwhile, thanks for supporting the vision of Tor and Startpage and a
completely private Internet!
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