Most search engines are well-known to log your IP address when you perform a search request via their services. For each request, personal information are saved (IP address, timestamps, clicked results) and re-used later to build your “profile”. Why? First, to propose more accurate results when you use the search engine again. Second, your marketing profile is build to let the search engine proposes you targeted ads.
Last year, Google announced that the retention period of the collected IP addresses was reduced to nine months. Ixquick does much better!
Surfboard Holding, a Dutch company who owns Ixquick, decided to push security and privacy as a key element of their search engine. Until recently, their retention policy was to keep IP addresses during 48 hours. Now, they don’t keep it anymore. Check out their privacy statement.
You can also access the Ixquick search engine using HTTPS.