Mini-Googles Pledging Privacy Find Users Resist Switching
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Even as Internet users fret more about online privacy, upstart search engines that promise data security are discovering it’s tough to get users to abandon Google -- and harder to rack up big profits without selling customer data to advertisers.
“Privacy has a price regarding user-friendliness,” said Alexander van Eesteren, head of sales for Ixquick, a search provider that stopped recording user information in 2009 and whose data policy is endorsed by the European Commission. “We know we could make more money by using targeted advertising.”