Privacy Policy

Data Collection In Your Searches

As we introduce our innovative search feature, we are committed to ensuring your online experience aligns with conservative values. Over the coming months, this rollout will be gradual, applying to users systematically. When utilizing TruSearch, we collaborate either with Microsoft Bing or, upon your explicit consent, Google, to furnish you with search results and advertisements. To facilitate this process, we automatically gather data essential for our search partners to counteract bot attacks and prevent ad fraud, encompassing your IP address and search terms.

For an expanding user base, we can now deliver Google results and advertisements. To facilitate these outcomes, Google necessitates the placement of a cookie on your browser and access to your device's local storage for information storage. We seek your consent before proceeding, and should you decline, we will provide non-personalized results sourced from Microsoft Bing.

Similarly, when presenting results from Microsoft Bing, we seek your permission to implement Microsoft Clarity. This tool captures your interactions with our website through behavioral metrics during individual search sessions, devoid of tying it to a user profile. The information serves purposes of site and advertising optimization, as well as fraud protection. For a comprehensive understanding of how Microsoft handles your data, please refer to Microsoft’s privacy statement and Microsoft Clarity documentation.

Microsoft Bing also extends personalized search results and ads, contingent on the establishment of a cookie on your browser, creating a personal profile. We seek your consent before enabling this feature, and your choice can be altered at any time in your cookie preferences. Further insights on cookies and how to assert control over your preferences can be found in the “What about cookies?” section.


Privacy Safeguards with TruSearch

Our commitment to your privacy is paramount. TruSearch meticulously collects and processes only the essential data required to furnish you with optimal search results, encompassing your IP address, search terms, and session behavioral data. We prioritize your autonomy by providing the choice to consent to data collection and sharing, and you retain the unequivocal right to opt-out at any juncture. Importantly, we refrain from gathering additional data from third parties.

For instance, our interest lies in the pertinence of our social media advertising to ensure tailored campaigns on suitable platforms. Rest assured, we never disclose your search terms to these platforms; instead, we share information solely on whether you continue to engage in searches with us. Such sharing occurs solely with your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at your discretion.

Security is at the core of our operations. TruSearch exclusively permits connections to our search engine through a secure SSL/HTTPS connection. This stringent measure ensures that your searches remain confidential, impervious to eavesdropping by any intermediary between you, TruSearch, and our search partners. To fortify this security infrastructure, we rely on Cloudflare, a preeminent and trusted SSL certificate authority, for the generation and management of our SSL certificates.

The servers powering TruSearch are strategically situated within the United States, guaranteeing swift responses regardless of your location within the states. When you initiate a search on TruSearch, your request is intelligently routed to the server geographically closest to you. To illustrate, if you reside in Oregon, your search traffic predominantly stays within Oregon, fostering localized efficiency and reinforcing our commitment to safeguarding your privacy.


Why Personal Data Collection is Necessary

The collection of your personal data, including your IP address and search terms, is imperative for the seamless provision of search results and advertisements from our esteemed search partners.

Both we and our search partners utilize your IP address as a defensive measure against spammers seeking to engage in fraudulent activities or manipulate specific search results. The identification of multiple search requests emanating from the same IP address serves as an indicator of potential bot activity. In response, we may prompt a CAPTCHA or temporarily cease serving results to that IP address. Recognizing the sensitivity of IP addresses as 'personal data,' we adhere to defined deletion periods. Internally, we anonymize your IP address within a maximum period of 7 days. Microsoft implements anonymization after 6 months, while, with your consent for Google search results, anonymization occurs after 9 months. Further details on the handling of your data by our search partners can be found in their respective privacy statements:
• Microsoft Privacy Policy
• Google Privacy Policy

In addition to this, we gather anonymous data crucial for identifying and rectifying bugs and issues within TruSearch products and services. This non-personal data encompasses log data collected by our servers, as well as information related to program crashes and exceptions.


Data Accessibility through WebExtensions API

Within Chrome Extensions, Safari Extensions, Edge Add-ons, and Firefox Add-ons, TruSearch utilizes WebExtension APIs with finely-tailored permission levels. These permission levels, enforced by the respective web browsers, regulate the information accessible to our application within your browser. It's crucial to note that the TruSearch application can only access specific information for which you have explicitly granted permission. Importantly, we neither can nor do track your browsing history.


Optional Permissions for Feature Enablement
Certain features may request additional optional permissions to enhance functionality. When enabling such features, your web browser will transparently communicate the specific permission(s) being requested. The feature becomes accessible only after your explicit allowance of the requested permission(s). This approach ensures a clear understanding and control over the information accessible to the TruSearch application.


Cookies and Your Privacy

Essential Cookies: A cookie, a small text file sent to your computer by the visited website, is crucial for TruSearch's correct functionality. Essential cookies, such as those determining your language preference for the menu display, are indispensable and cannot be declined.

Microsoft Clarity: When using TruSearch and obtaining results from Microsoft Bing, we implement Microsoft Clarity to capture your website interactions through behavioral metrics within individual searches. This process, essential for service provision, ensures that data is not linked to a personal profile without your explicit consent.

Non-Essential Cookies: We deploy non-essential cookies solely with your consent, enhancing our services and refining user experience. These fall into distinct categories:

• Analytics - To gain insights into your TruSearch usage, identify helpful features, and pinpoint areas for improvement. Rest assured, this information remains entirely anonymous and cannot be utilized to identify you.
• Marketing - Enabling you to provide feedback on TruSearch and its features, these cookies also facilitate occasional notifications about updates or climate-related content tailored to your interests.

Google

For an expanding user base, we now offer Google results and advertisements. Google sets a cookie on your browser and accesses local storage on your device for information storage. This aids Google in refining advertising and fortifying system security. The data undergoes anonymization after specified intervals, removing part of the IP address (after 9 months) and cookie information (after 18 months). If personalization of ads is not enabled, you may still see ads based on general factors such as location and browser type.

Third-Party Personalization

Subject to your consent, we incorporate code from our search and advertising providers (Google or Microsoft Bing) on our site. This may include pixels or web beacons allowing partners to place or read cookies on your browser. Such cookies enable the collection of your IP address and visit-related information for building interest profiles and displaying more relevant ads. Opting out results in non-personalized ads. Microsoft and Google anonymize collected data per their specified timelines. For more details, refer to Microsoft and Google's privacy statements:
• Microsoft privacy statement
• Google privacy policy

Microsoft Clarity

Implemented with your consent when receiving Microsoft Bing results, Microsoft Clarity captures website interactions for behavioral metrics. This information aids in site and advertising optimization, along with fraud protection. Aggregated click data is retained for 13 months, while session recordings are stored for up to 30 days. For more details, consult Microsoft’s privacy statement and Microsoft Clarity documentation.

Rest assured, we always seek your permission through our cookie management tool before deploying cookies beyond those essential for service provision. You retain the option to revoke or amend this consent at any time.


Search Privacy and Confidentiality

Your searches on TruSearch are treated with the utmost confidentiality. We collaborate with Microsoft Bing and Google to present search results, and to thwart any potential eavesdropping, we exclusively permit connections to our search engine over a secure SSL/HTTPS connection.

Your search queries are never shared with any entity beyond those directly involved in responding to your search request, such as Google and Microsoft Bing. To delve deeper into their privacy practices, we encourage you to review their statements: [Microsoft Privacy Statement](link to Microsoft privacy statement) and [Google Privacy Policy](link to Google privacy policy).

TruSearch extends options for conducting searches on third-party websites through the “More” dropdown, the “Maps” tab, and the TruSearch Search Tag feature. It is important to note that once you follow a link to a third-party website, we have no control over how they may track your activities.

Additionally, please be aware that your browser may store your browsing history, including the pages visited as a result of a search or your chat conversations if utilizing our chat vertical. However, you have the capability to erase this history using the function within your browser.


Sharing of Personal Data with Third Parties:

Your privacy is of utmost importance to us, and we want to provide you with clear insights into how your data is handled. When you conduct searches on TruSearch, your IP address and search terms are automatically shared with our trusted search partners, namely Microsoft Bing or Google.

In the upcoming months, users will gradually gain options to personalize their search feed. Rest assured, we always seek your consent if such personalization choices require additional sharing of personal data. With your explicit consent, our search partners may collect more information from you through cookies and other technologies during your search sessions.
For a comprehensive understanding of how our search partners utilize your data and to take control of your data, we encourage you to explore the following links:

• Microsoft privacy statement
• Google privacy policy
• How Google uses information from partner sites

For users based in the EEA and UK, we collaborate with "Didomi" to collect, store, and manage your consent and preference choices. Didomi creates a user ID for this purpose, which is used to store your consent choices. The information collected by Didomi includes your IP address (for determining your country's location for configuring the consent banner), your consent choices, and browser information. Importantly, your IP address is not stored or retained by Didomi. Aggregated consent data is used to comprehend how users interact with our consent banner. Further details can be found under the “Third Parties” section.

TruSearch engages in advertising on social media platforms, and we provide anonymous metadata to these companies. Specifically, we inform them whether individuals who clicked on our ads have downloaded our app and conducted searches with us. This process aids us in refining our marketing campaigns. It's important to note that this applies only to users who have actively chosen to engage on these platforms and have provided prior consent. To manage your consent or obtain more information, please refer to the following links:
• Facebook
• Adwords
• TikTok
• Apple’s App Store
• Twitter
• Truth Social

To gain a more comprehensive understanding of how we collaborate with third parties, we encourage you to review the fine print further down this page.


Privacy Measures in Advertisement

At TruSearch, safeguarding your privacy within the realm of advertisements is a top priority. Similar to other search engines, we display advertisements alongside our search results. Clicking on these ads generates revenue, which we diligently reinvest into climate action. The ads you see are provided by either Microsoft Bing or Google. It's important to note that we seek your consent before presenting advertisements from Google. If consent is not granted for Google results and advertisements, you will receive results and ads from Microsoft Bing.

We also offer you the option to receive personalized ads through Microsoft Bing or Google. Should you consent to personalized ads, additional usage data will be shared with these search partners through cookies. Further details on how our website uses cookies can be found in the “What about cookies?” section of this privacy policy.

Comparison with Other Search Engines
Our privacy policy is crafted to ensure that we collect only what is essential for providing search results and ads from our trusted search partners, Microsoft Bing and Google.

In comparison to other search engines, such as Google, Bing, Yandex, and Baidu, which possess their own web indexes, we work transparently with Microsoft Bing and Google. Most other general web search engines collaborate and share data with these major companies. The openness about our collaboration and the information we share sets us apart.

It is crucial to acknowledge that achieving perfect protection of your search data by alternative search engines is challenging. This is because other entities, such as your network provider or browser, might still have access to some of your data. For an added layer of privacy, we recommend exploring security tools like VPNs and services like TOR.


Fine Print

For those keen on delving into the intricacies of our policies, the comprehensive legal version of our privacy policy below provides detailed insights into how we handle your data. We prioritize the protection of your privacy and adhere to German and European data protection provisions, the highest standard globally. This extensive data protection declaration outlines how and for what purpose we process personal data, elucidating the rights to which you are entitled.

Analytics and Consent

Our self-hosted, secure, and fully encrypted web analysis tool defaults to tracking anonymous data through essential cookies, including information about the device you use for searching and whether our extension is installed. With your consent, we gather additional usage data through cookies, a choice you can make using our cookie management tool. You have the flexibility to revoke this consent at any time.
Since we neither store nor sell personal data, your data is not bought from other parties.

Data Transfer to Other Countries

Where feasible, we opt for services within the US and ensure that partners outside the US comply with US regulations. More detailed information on data recipients can be found in this privacy policy.


Collaboration with Third Parties

In certain instances, we collaborate with third parties for specific purposes, as outlined below. To safeguard your personal information, we implement a proxy server between us and these third parties.

Partnerships with Microsoft Bing and Google

Our partnerships with Microsoft Bing (Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052, USA) and Google (Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy Mountain View, California 94043-1351, USA) are crucial to our services. For our feed with Microsoft Bing, we engage in a commercial relationship with System1 (System1 OpCo, LLC, 4235 Redwood Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90066 USA). It's important to note that no personal data is shared with System1; only aggregated data is shared to enhance performance. Our collaboration with Microsoft Bing and Google falls within the scope of the services we offer, governed by Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR. Any data transferred to the USA as part of our services adheres to the standard contractual clauses of the EU Commission. Both providers are certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. For more details, refer to the privacy policies of Google and Microsoft.

Communication Management with Aweber

To maintain communication with individuals expressing a legitimate interest in receiving follow-up communications, we use "Aweber." Data stored through Aweber is GDPR compliant and remains confidential, not shared with third parties. If you wish to have your details deleted from Aweber, please send a message to support@trusearchextension.com with the subject "Request to be removed from Aweber." The provider is Formagrid Inc., 99 Market St FL 8 San Francisco, CA, 94103-2044, USA. The use of Aweber is based on your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR), and any data transfer to the US is in compliance with the standard contractual clauses of the EU Commission. Additional information on Aweber's privacy policy can be found here.


Spam Protection Measures

Ensuring the integrity of our truth-spreading efforts and safeguarding resources from spam attacks is paramount. To address this, we employ our own spam protection intelligence and collaborate with the expertise of Cloudflare, a specialist in spam protection.

Internally, we retain IP addresses for a maximum of 7 days before either anonymizing or deleting them. Cloudflare, our trusted partner, receives anonymized and obfuscated IP addresses, the majority of which are promptly deleted within days. Only a small subset of anonymized metadata remains with Cloudflare for a duration of up to 12 months. This retained sample serves the purpose of diagnosing malicious activities and enhancing the overall effectiveness of security measures. Cloudflare Inc., located at 101 Townsend St., San Francisco, CA 94107, USA, is the designated provider for this service.

Our utilization of Cloudflare aligns with our legitimate interest in ensuring the provision of our services is error-free and secure, as articulated in Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR. Data transfer to the US is conducted in adherence to the standard contractual clauses of the EU Commission. Moreover, Cloudflare holds certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. For more detailed information, please refer to Cloudflare’s privacy policy.


User Rights Regarding Personal Data

As a user of TruSearch, you have specific rights in relation to your personal data, empowering you to control and manage your information effectively:

1. Right to Refuse Providing Personal Data: You have the option to refuse the provision of your voluntary personal data. However, please note that the personal data you provide is integral to your use of TruSearch. Choosing not to provide certain data may restrict your access to our services.

2. Right to Access and Modify Personal Data: Through your use of TruSearch, you retain the right to access and modify your personal data at any time. This includes the ability to change your email, name, and other available information.

3. Right to Be Forgotten: At any time, you can request deletion of your account by sending an email with the subject line "Delete my account" to support@trusearchextension.com. Further details about the deletion process can be found in the “What happens to my data when I delete my details?” section below.

4. Right to Obtain Personal Data: Upon request, TruSearch will provide a data export of all the data stored in our system related to your account.

5. Right to Submit a Complaint: If you have a complaint about the handling of your Personal Data, you can contact us. Upon receiving your complaint, we commit to responding within five (5) business days to acknowledge receipt and providing a comprehensive response within two (2) weeks after investigation.


Deletion of Account and Data
Upon deleting your personal details from TruSearch, your data becomes inaccessible, and your account is flagged as deleted. This data is retained for a grace period of 90 days, facilitating account recovery if needed. A hard delete process is available upon request, expediting the removal of all personal data from our databases. After a hard delete, your data may still be present in encrypted database backups for up to an additional 35 days.
To request an expedited hard delete, please contact us.

Data Security Measures:
Ensuring data security is paramount, and TruSearch employs robust measures:
• In Transit: All data communication to and from our servers is secured using HTTPS/TLS. TruSearch domains have HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) enabled.
• At Rest: All data in our databases and backups are encrypted when at rest.

Privacy Policy Changes
While most changes are expected to be minor, TruSearch reserves the right to modify its Privacy Policy at its sole discretion. It is advisable for users to regularly check this page for any updates. Continued use of the site after changes to the Privacy Policy will constitute acceptance of the modifications.

For any inquiries about our Privacy Policy, please contact us at support@trusearchextension.com


Last updated July 22, 2024.