TIL A "privacy-focused" ad-company owns Startpage, MapQuest

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Started using Startpage a few months ago at the recommendation of a co-worker. It uses Google instead of Bing for search results, which is why I started using it, but I learned that it describes itself as:

“an Industry-leading omnichannel digital marketing platform, powered by Machine Learning and AI, that monetizes internet traffic by putting the right ads in front of the right people at the right time.”

https://system1.com/what-we-do#privacy>

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Why not use Ecosia then? Still has some extra privacy compared to Bing and Google and meanwhile you do a lot of good for the world and a ton of people

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Ecosia is my go-to and it’s been solid for me.

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If it uses Google, is there any privacy advantage to using Startpage instead of directly using Google?

Everyone can still use data poisoning. I’m turning 60 next week and looking to retire somewhere I can golf and visit an exotic wildlife sanctuary.

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Waze used to have a feature where you could turn your vehicle into a little pacman and gobble up dots on the route for points.. it caused problems (obviously) but was fun.

Back in my day we used MapQuest to print out directions to whatever music festival or concert we were going to.

Why anyone would trust any of this shit is beyond me.

Get a map, on paper. Learn to read it. Krinkle it up in your friends ear and tell them it’s ASMR. Maps don’t sell your data, and if there’s an advertisement you can draw a moustache on it. In Australia, the blank back side of the map used to have local wild edibles with pictures and descriptions by Bush Tucker Man.

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Alas it’s getting increasingly hard to find paper maps a lot of places. They’re just not sold anymore. If you find yourself in or near one of these places, I recommend CoMaps

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Not only that, but some road networks have gotten a lot more complex because everyone has a GPS or mapping software now.

I grew up when paper maps were already on the way out, so maybe it’s a ‘skill issue’ for me, but I would have a rough time figuring out lane changes and exits if I had to travel to a new part of greater Vancouver for the first time without GPS. It works fine when everyone is using software to help navigate, and I expect that it would be a mess otherwise.

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Lane changes and exits sometimes mess me up even with digital directions! Some of them are designed like shit and then addotionally described like shit by the mapping software.
-__-

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OpenStreetMaps?

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OSM doesn’t have live navigation; CoMaps uses OSM data.

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OrganicMaps CoMaps is another OSM client with buzz

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Organic Maps is what comaps forked from. You don’t want to use that one.

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oops, forgot. Pretend I said CoMaps.

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Seconding OpenStreetMap. You can download the maps for offline use, and there are plenty of FOSS apps that use it. It’s incomplete in some areas, but if you’re at the point of physical paper maps, you may as well channel that friction into contributing here and there and helping improve it for others.

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System1 is an advertizing company that operates in the privacy niche. All I can get from all that ad copy you quoted is that they advertize 😀. I haven’t heard of them doing anything other than selling ads. AdExchanger (no idea what their reliability is but the writing style is quite frank so I’ll trust them) clocks System1 as a "Special-purpose acquisition company".

The privacy community has a pretty favorable view of System1: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/search-engines/?h=startpage#startpage https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2020/05/03/relisting-startpage/

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The privacy community has a pretty favorable view of System1:

For sure, but this was last updated May 2022.

So here’s the thing, it’s admirable when companies do this, but the reality is that the whims and desires of the parent company can change in an instant. Sure, it’s privacy focused now. Can we be assured of that in five, ten, fifteen years? There are zero guarantees for this sort of thing. Especially for a “special purpose acquisition company.”

It’s essentially something that should be under endless audit under all the companies claiming good privacy policies, how willing they are to stick to their guns instead of giving in for profit.

Because it always can and will change so we must “Trust, but verify” at all times.

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I agree, but in a different way: No ethical consumption under capitalism 😃. My position on all companies is “take what you can get, bail when they yen grift”

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A privacy focused as company also runs Firefox. Most of the Mozilla board is ex google people so you can see why.

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