How private is the Givero search engine?
That’s an excellent question to ask!
As the Givero search engine team, we do our best to live up to your expectations and to make sure we are trustworthy. We have nothing to hide, but you may find the technical details a bit overwhelming, that’s why we have created this simple introduction to the way we handle online privacy.
“Hi, I’m Brian from the Givero Team. If you have questions regarding online privacy or Givero, feel free to get in touch”
How private is a
private search engine?
That's an excellent question to ask!
As the Givero search engine team, we do our best to live up to your expectations and to make sure we are trustworthy. We have nothing to hide, but you may find the technical details a bit overwhelming, that’s why we have created this simple introduction to the way we handle online privacy.
“Hi, I’m Brian from the Givero Team. If you have questions regarding online privacy or Givero, feel free to get in touch”
What you share
You share your search query and your computer shares technical information with us. This is how all search engines work. You are never anonymous when you use a search engine.
What we save
We are very privacy-focused, and we don’t keep a history of your searches or correlate it with your behavior. We don’t allow re-targeting or use of technical device data
What is shared
To make Givero work, and be able to donate funds to charities we share information about your device and searches with our trusted search partner, Microsoft Bing.
What you share
- Your search query
- Where in the world you are
- What you click on when you visit Givers
- Technical information about your device
ABOUT COOKIES
Cookies
- Cookies are stored on your device, containing information such as your supported organizations and the search counter.
- We only store cookies from givero.com.
- We don't use any third-party cookies.
What we save
We save as little data about you as possible and make sure it has been anonymized.
We don’t:
- Keep a history of your searches
- Keep a personal profile of you
- Keep data about your location
We do:
- Save anonymized data for troubleshooting
- Use our own tool to analyze general behavior
TECHNICAL DETAILS
IP address
- IP addresses are anonymized immediately in our analytics tool (self-hosted Matomo) and used to optimize our services.
- We anonymize visits to our blog posts immediately. We only use this for fraud detection and debugging purposes.
What we share
To make Givero work as a search engine, and be able to donate funds to good causes we have a partnership with our Microsoft Bing Search Partner.
- You can turn on and off the collection of data for personalized results.
- We don’t share data for behavioral advertising.
We only share information with our partners. They promise to treat your data with care, and we trust them. Please read their privacy statements for the details.
RESPECTING PRIVACY
Privacy as a goal
- You can turn off personalized results and avoid the "filter bubble" (via the Bing-ID).
- We don't contribute to data collection for personalized ads.
- We are working on further strengthening our privacy options.
- We aim to be on-par with DDG (we are nearly there right now!)
- Our approach is built on transparency and earned trust, rather than technical anonymity.
Personalized results, or not
Some feel personalized results are great; others try to avoid it – we give you that choice.
- Result personalization is a way to improve the quality of results you see.
- Personalized results put you in what some call a “filter bubble.”
- If you want personalized results, the Bing-ID is used to help us do this.
Example:
If you repeatedly searched for locations in London and then search for “pizza”, you may see pizza restaurants in London in your search results.
No behavioral advertising
- On Givero, search queries are not used to collect information to tailor ads and results to match your interests.
- We don’t share data for re-targeting purposes.
- Some see behavioral advertising as a good thing; we don’t. We respect your privacy when you use Givero.
Example:
If you search for “new sneakers” on Givero, your search query is not used to show ads for sneakers when you visit other websites.
Note: Even when you use the Givero search engine, behavioral ads may appear around the web because of your activity on other websites.
The devil is in the details
At Givero we’ve worked with online privacy, anonymity and search engines for years. We built our own independent open source search engine a few years ago, and even then, we couldn’t guarantee anonymity.
Over the last few years, we actively participated in shaping the future of online privacy, especially within the search engine field. New initiatives have been launched in recent years, but when it comes to anonymity and search engines, there is no such thing as guaranteed anonymity with current technology. When you use a search engine, privacy is based on trust.
We don’t guarantee your anonymity when you use Givero.com. We can’t do it. No search engine can do it. We promise to act with integrity and transparency. We believe in our mission to make online services work for the greater good, and we respect and appreciate the trust you place in us.
- Technical privacy or online anonymity does not exist
On your device, you can try various things to stay anonymous online. When you search, you have to share at least your search query and the details your device sends so it can receive the results. This is enough to track you. No search engine can guarantee anonymity. - Privacy is based on trust
Privacy can be earned – sharing something in private with someone you know requires faith. Trust is hard for online services to earn; we know that. We believe transparency is one of the most valuable things that creates trust. We have nothing to hide.
Together we will make a difference
Everyone can help! With your help, we can make valuable donations to good causes.
If you want to help more, then invite your friends to support good causes by searching on Givero.
