New "Protection" Extension Blows The Lid Off The Startpage Privacy Charade

"Out front, we find a grand, feelgood gloss, extending around us a warm hug of protection. But behind the curtain, it's just another cybertech company pimping us out to the preds."

Google Tag Manager hitting the firewall after Startpage Privacy Protection waved it through without even a cursory mention.

For years, we've been wondering whether the Startpage search engine might warrant a little more scrutiny. Whether the notion of "actual Google without the tracking" should perhaps be tentatively subjected to the old adage:

"If it sounds too good to be true... It probably is."

But Startpage's recent release of a so-called "privacy protection" extension for browsers, might just have burst the brand's carefully-cultivated integrity bubble for us.