Global Privacy Control

Global Privacy Control, or GPC, is a signal your browser can send to every website you visit. It tells the site that you do not want your data sold or shared, and you set it once instead of on each site.

#What 4Search does when it sees GPC

The Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy say that 4Search treats an enabled Global Privacy Control signal as an opt-out of sale, sharing, targeted advertising and other optional processing, to the extent the law requires. In practice, you see this in the privacy panel:

• The Advertising switch is turned off, and you cannot turn it on while your browser sends the signal.
• A note under it says Disabled because this browser sends Global Privacy Control.
• If you had saved an advertising choice earlier, the signal overrides it in that browser.

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On a site that shows Google display ads, the ads stay non-personalized, and the policy says the site also asks Google to restrict its data processing. See Advertising and affiliate links.

#What it does not change

• Search. Google's web results are part of the essential search service and still load. Rejecting optional categories never removes them.
• Your other choices. AI-assisted answers and Saved preferences are choices you make yourself. The signal does not switch them on or off.
• Do Not Track. The older "Do Not Track" signal is not treated as an opt-out. The Privacy Policy explains that it does not communicate a standardized legal choice, and points you to Global Privacy Control and your privacy choices instead.

#Turn it on in your browser

GPC is a setting of your browser or of a privacy extension, not of 4Search. Some browsers send it by default, some have a setting for it, and some can send it only through an extension. Look for Global Privacy Control in your browser's privacy settings, or in the options of your privacy extension. The Global Privacy Control website lists the browsers and extensions that support it.

To check that it reached 4Search, open the privacy panel and look at the Advertising category for the note above.

#If you cannot use GPC

Use the privacy panel instead: keep Advertising off, or select Reject non-essential. If you want to ask about your data or opt out in writing, use the Privacy Request Form.

#Common questions

Does GPC stop all tracking?

It tells 4Search not to sell or share your data and keeps advertising choices off in that browser. It does not change the essential processing that search needs, such as Google returning web results, or the technical records described in What 4Search collects, and what it does not.

Why is the Advertising switch greyed out?

Your browser is sending Global Privacy Control, and 4Search honors it. The note under the switch says so. Turn the signal off in your browser if you want to choose for yourself.

Does 4Search honor Do Not Track?

Not as an opt-out. The policy says Do Not Track does not communicate a standardized legal choice. Use Global Privacy Control or the privacy panel instead.