Of course, this is after just a few minutes of surfing. Trackers that seem to crop up with frequency often relate to Google advertising – but it doesn’t take much browsing before trackers from big media names such as AOL and Fox are noticed, as well as expected Web 2.0 businesses such as Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon.

For readers from Europe who are used to the EU Cookie Directive, it is a lot more usable and transparent than the varying quality of warning pop-ups we’re used to. With just a click or two, users can then see a list of the trackers it has identified on the site.ĭigital Marketing Email, The Weapon Against Identity Fraud As each webpage loads, DuckDuckGo provides users with a ‘Privacy Grade’ (A is safe, D to F are not so) allowing them to make a quick assessment.

In the first place, the latest iteration of the DuckDuckGo app and browser extension helps demystify just how tracked we are online.

those who might not be familiar with VPNs or Tor) to be able to retain their privacy throughout their online journeys beyond just making searches. But the company is broadening its appeal by working to make it even easier for the average internet user (i.e. The search engine arm of DuckDuckGo certainly has its fans, averaging 24m daily direct searches last month. It makes a point of diverting some of these profits as donations to start-ups and projects who share a similar philosophy to their own. Thanks to the un-tracked ads and affiliate partnerships it runs, the company has managed to be profitable since 2014. The same results are delivered to everyone regardless of their demographic, location, user behavior, etc. There are no filter bubbles for users because there are no user profiles. In a nutshell, complete privacy is DuckDuckGo’s USP. It has its own web crawler, and its SERPs bolster this primary source with hundreds of other secondary sources such as Yahoo! and Wikipedia – as well as ads from the Yahoo-Bing network (but these are not tracked). Launched in 2008, DuckDuckGo gave users the option to search the web without having their IP addresses, search history, or any other user data stored save for some essential cookies. But first, let’s recap on this element of the company and how it sets itself apart. DuckDuckGo: The search engine that doesn’t track youĪs we’ll discuss later, DuckDuckGo has evolved to become more than just a search engine during its first 10 years.

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