Security News
DuckDuckGo announced today that they will now be blocking all third-party Microsoft tracking scripts in their privacy browser after failing to block them in the past. This change comes after the company faced massive blowback in May for not blocking some third-party Microsoft trackers in the DuckDuckGo browser due to a syndicated search content agreement between the two companies.
The privacy-focused DuckDuckGo browser purposely allows Microsoft trackers on third-party sites due to an agreement in their syndicated search content contract between the two companies. "Tracker Radar automatically blocks hidden third-party trackers we can find lurking on websites you visit in DuckDuckGo, which stops the companies behind those trackers from collecting and selling your data," explains the Apple App Store page for the DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser.
The DuckDuckGo web search engine is now demoting websites known to spread Russian propaganda following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the company's founder and CEO, Gabriel Weinberg. "At DuckDuckGo, we've been rolling out search updates that down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation."
How to use DuckDuckGo on your PC and mobile devices. To install the DuckDuckGo extension, open Chrome or Firefox and browse to the DuckDuckGo home page.
Commentary: The privacy-oriented search engine keeps winning fans. The privacy-oriented search engine netted more than 35 billion search queries in 2021, a 46.4% jump over 2020.
The privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo continues to grow rapidly, with the company now averaging over 100 million daily search queries and growing by almost 47% in 2021. To build their search index, the search engine uses the DuckDuckBot spider to crawl sites and receive data from partners, such as Wikipedia and Bing.
In the never-ending battle for privacy on mobile phones, I seem to be forever searching for the right combination of apps and services to lift Android to a more secure place. Recently the privacy-centric browser took yet another step forward, one that had me immediately set it as my default Android browser.
Commentary: DuckDuckGo is small by Google's standards, but the company is proving it's very possible to make a lot of money with just a bit more privacy. It's actually a big myth that search engines need to track your personal search history to make money or deliver quality search results.
DuckDuckGo is rolling out an email privacy feature that strips incoming messages of trackers that can help profile you for better profiling and ad targeting. Currently in private beta, DuckDuckGo's Email Protection service aims at shielding you from hidden trackers that are often embedded in emails from various companies.
Last month, Google announced plans to roll out a new privacy-focused feature called Federated Learning of Cohorts for the Chrome browser and ad serving websites. FLoC has been criticized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and outright rejected by makers of Vivaldi and Brave browsers for its debatable claim of being a privacy-preserving technology.