DuckDuckGo Isn’t as Private as You Thought
reviewgeek.com
reviewgeek.com
395 points, 240 comments
I would much prefer informative headlines which make no assumption of prior beliefs, for example:
“X sells itself as Y, but it does Z”
“X not as Y as alternative option A is”
...or even a headline where the author's subjective belief is invoked, if that is the style of the article:
“X isn't as Y as I thought”
The problem here is that DDG promotes itself as a highly private service and at the same time makes a deal to share tracking data with (arguably) one of the worst privacy offenders.
This makes them substantially less privacy-friendly than they make it seem.
Why can't you just unlink your Microsoft login and use offline account if you're using Windows, or use ad blockers? Even if you somehow see an ad aimed at you, why can't it be in your power to just ignore them? Think in the terms of "I'll only look up a product/services if I have a functional need for it" rather than fall to the trap of "just because I have lots of money doesn't mean I have to spend it today"?
A lot of times by the way if I see something I fancy, I'd end up looking at Amazon and find the best product at affordable cost, so I don't really click on any ads. If I recall even, I NEVER click on an ad, I'd go as far that I ignored sponsored ads in Amazon, so what's the problem with ads?
That said, each new datapoint a large data broker like Microsoft gets adds that much more to their ability to deanonymise you, regardless of whether you're logged in to any of their services or not. This can happen more directly (e.g. shared, long-lived cookies), or indirectly via techniques like fingerprinting.
It shouldnt even be in the same conversation as trackers tracking you across the internet.
It's also such a small part of their product. Without it on, you wouldnt notice it exists.
They created their own currency. They pay you that currency to view ads. You can take that currency and hold it, or exchange it for dollars, every time it pays out.
Is it basically the same as a centralized loyalty program? Eh, sort of, but once you have your points, you can go sell them to anyone else, off platform. It's an improvement in usability over any sort of reward points in the restaurant and ecommerce industries. I dont think BAT is a scam. There isnt a promise that holding it will make you rich. There is actually an economy for it, as advertisers are buying it for a reason, vs it just being something that people buy hoping to later offload on to the next sucker.
And it is optional. Don't turn it on, and the product isnt infected at all.
This only affects the DDG mobile app. Just for starters, and not to be snarky, but doesn't the very use of a mobile telephone contradict concerns about privacy?
The whole thing has a slashdotty kind of odor to it.
yes. bought the Librem5... still waiting though...
By using "another" vs "a" you are implicitly drawing a comparison. And, I think we all, and you, are very aware of that.
Searx is the best search engine I'm aware of right now provided you can find an instance that works (searx.be is good for me.)
The fact that DDG is neither of Google or Bing should probably be what really matters.