DuckDuckGo Sees Massive Growth In Post-Snowden World

DuckDuckGo, the privacy-oriented search engine, has been around for over six years. But when Edward Snowden revealed the extent of NSA surveillance in 2013, DuckDuckGo started a period of strong growth that hasn't slowed yet. The search engine has seen a 600% increase in traffic over the past two years, and they're now serving 3 billion searches a year. This shouldn't be a surprise — last month, a Pew survey found that 40% of American adults didn't want their search engine to retain information about them. But members of the general public are notoriously slow to change their privacy-related behavior. DuckDuckGo's growing popularity has led them to double their employee count since early 2014, now totaling 28 people. Their success is beginning to fuel speculation about an acquisition, with Apple's name being tossed around as a potential buyer.

Comments

Re:Dunning–Kruger effect

[EzInKy]

You are right, all that you just said is above my head and I'm in no mood to research it. To me it is simple, you want anonymity but refuse to respect that rights of others who want the same. I've been using Slashdot since before 2000, and some of the most informative and insightful posts come from those who can only post anonymously. Governments kill and people ostracize those who post unpopular things. For you to purport to want anonymity but refuse to respond to the anonymous is the pinnacle of hypocrisy.