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When you look at the timeline[1], the first event is "DontTrack.us", a website[2] dedicated to pointing out google tracking, and linking to DDG in the end.

So privacy has always been their focus. It is a nice advertising point, but pushed from the beginning.

1: https://duckduckgo.com/traffic.html

2: http://donttrack.us/

That timeline begins 1.5 - 2 years after DDG launched.

I remember the first time (about 6 months ago) I took a look at their about page there was a big emphasis on them not tracking your searches, so I think the sentiment has always been there.

DDG launched in 2008, so data from 6 months ago doesn't really speak to whether privacy was a part of the original purpose.

In the very beginning, Gabriel was more focused on the instant answers and hadn't thought much of privacy -- users brought it up after he launched it on HN.