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Comment by nellypat | Hacker News Reader

The opt-in/opt-out arguments is a valid one and DDG IS my primary search engine and I love it. BUT, I must say this pseudo-activisim by DDG has become too much now, they're building this pure and altruistic image whereas obviously they will directly benefit from regulation and hurting Google!

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What is "too much" and "pseudo" about their activism? Yes, they indeed directly benefit from that. What is wrong with having a privacy-respecting monetization?

Their own analytics/tracking is opt-out ;)

DuckDuckGo staff here. Just want to point out that we do not track users - opt in or opt out. We do serve ads that can be disabled (opt-out) but they’re contextual, based on individual search terms rather than any form of tracking.

Thank you for taking the time to set the record straight. I've been a DDG user for a number of years now, and I'm so glad that it exists. Its demonstrated integrity feels exponetially relevant, in contrast with state and corporate behavior these days.

Ah true, if you don't consider logging search queries, and storing device information on improving.duckduckgo.com, and sending all data to your partner Yahoo/Bing, and use affiliate tracking codes.

Then yes, you are not tracking.

I think it could hurt their image in the long-term. I've already seen others complain here and there about the pushy narrative, they just need to be more subtle about it. Again, I'm using DDG and want them to expand so I want what's best for them!

Problem with people in the tech community is to think that sometimes anything that involves promoting yourself is being too push. DDG needs to do interview, needs to be on the front of the issue and needs to be doing activism in order to make changes. Just having a browser and shutting their month to not sound "pushy" isn't going to help them grow and make the changes that WE need.

> I've already seen others complain here and there about the pushy narrative, they just need to be more subtle about it.

what should they do instead?

Have more of a sense of humour about it. I think most complaints I've seen about people on this seem to mostly be tonal.

Are you suggesting DDG stop marketing the primary benefit of their product in an effort to be "real" with its customers?

What is your suggestion for an alternative message? "We are trying to make money like everyone else, please use our search engine that is not an altruistic public good and is trying to influence regulation that will hurt our competitors".

Doesn't really roll off the tongue.

They could do what they're already doing without mentioning Congress or altering regulations. I use DDG and will continue to, but can't say I care for them (or anyone/anything else I support) slamming down on that "let's get the government to help me" lever.

I think you can take each one on a case by case basis.

If health insurance companies lobbied the government to require that all citizens have health insurance, I'd take a ton of issue. But if health insurance companies lobbied to require doctors to get consent if they want to harvest tissue or organ samples from patients for personal research, I'd support that change.

It's all grey area but as of yet I don't think DDG is at all in the wrong.

No. I just want them to be smarter about how they deliver the message. I would love them to succeed and this is just a feedback from a regular user who follows news about DDG.

"Be smarter" doesn't explain what it is you want them to do.

If they are successful I think it’s entirely possible that people will switch back to using Google and away from DDG if they can be certain their data is kept private.

In addition to not stalking you across the web DDG also does not store data on you even when using their products directly. For me that is still cause for my use of DDG.

“DuckDuckGo is a general internet privacy company at this point, and we help you essentially escape the creepiness and tracking on the internet.”

The Internet has always been and will always be creepy. As a search engine DDG isn't that great.

>The Internet has always been //

What do you mean by that?

Back before chat had pictures there were creepers creeping on the Internet, it's not an artificial sandbox like Disneyland where everything is perfect.

Like Mozilla, made even worse by the fact that later Mozilla proceeds to stab you in the back :P

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