[Edbrowse-dev] more fun with startpage

[Chuck Hallenbeck <chuckh@ftml.net>]

Hi all,

I thought I'd see if the recent changes allowed edbrowse 3.5.1 to submit a
query to google through the front end at www.startpage.com. This time the
submit button worked, but instead of getting a list of search results, here
is what I got:


We apologize for the inconvenience: to prevent possible abuse of the Startpage
service, your Internet connection has been prevented from accessing it.

This happens when a large number of search requests are received from one's
Internet connection in a short amount of time -- for example,
if you are using "screen-scraping" software,
or if you are sharing a connection with many people,
perhaps through a proxy service.

* If you are using a proxy service to reach Startpage,
disabling it should avoid this problem.
* Otherwise, if you have received this message in error,
please contact us at with details and our support staff will try to resolve the issue.

We apologize for the inconvenience. Because Startpage does not retain usage
logs, these inexact measures are necessary to protect the service from high
volume "robotic" use. We appreciate your patience and our support staff is
available to rectify this problem whenever possible.




My guess would be that the service has detected that I am accessing the net
via a wifi access point here at the adult home where I am residing. I'm not
all that interested in privately making searches, I'm just hunting for
problems. The <gg function Karl provides is good enough for me, so I'm not
going to pursue the issue. Next thing you know I will be blocked from a
service because I am not wearing a necktie while trying to access it.

Chuck


-- 

 Chuck in Ghent, just northeast of Hudson on the Hudson.