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DuckDuckGo App and Extension Upgrades Offer Privacy 'Beyond the Search Box' (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes the Verge:
DuckDuckGo is launching updated versions of its browser extension and mobile app, with the promise of keeping internet users safe from snooping "beyond the search box." The company's flagship product, its privacy-focused search engine, will remain the same, but the revamped extension and app will offer new tools to help users keep their web-browsing as safe and private as possible. These include grade ratings for websites, factoring in their use of encryption and ad tracking networks, and offering summaries of their terms of service (with summaries provided by third-party Terms of Service Didn't Read). The app and extension are available for Firefox, Safari, Chrome, iOS, and Android.
The ability to block ad tracking networks is probably the most important feature here. These networks are used by companies like Google and Facebook to follow users around the web, stitching together their browsing history to create a more accurate profile for targeted advertising.
DuckDuckGo calls it "a major step to simplify online privacy," adding that without it, "It's hard to use the Internet without it feeling a bit creepy -- like there's a nosey neighbor watching everything you do from across the street."
The ability to block ad tracking networks is probably the most important feature here. These networks are used by companies like Google and Facebook to follow users around the web, stitching together their browsing history to create a more accurate profile for targeted advertising.
DuckDuckGo calls it "a major step to simplify online privacy," adding that without it, "It's hard to use the Internet without it feeling a bit creepy -- like there's a nosey neighbor watching everything you do from across the street."
Just block most tracking cookies and JavaScript with a whitelist option?
No different than Google or Facebook. You're the product.
is just that: a promise. At the end of the day, DDG is a free service: where the hell do you think they generate revenues from? I want to believe their concern for privacy and their offer to help are genuine. But ultimately they drink from the same well as Google and their ilk
So thanks but no thanks. I'll take care of my own privacy with Noscript, Open Referer Control, uBlock Origin, User-Agent Switcher, Ghostery, Cookie Autodelete, Greasemonkey, Tor and all the others thank you very much.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
How secure can this be when Putin is able to inspect your searches at will?
I sort of view these kinds of press releases as reinventing the wheel. You can already the ability of everyone to track you using a conventional adblocker, and those sorts of extensions have millions of active users in every browser, probably more than DuckDuckGo. The bonus is that an adblocker will also block, say, YouTube trying to serve you crypto mining garbage. Or pictures of infected toenails that Taboola thinks are relevant to the shitty celebrity listicle you're reading. Or, you know, ads.
Lower processor usage, lower bandwidth usage, faster page loads, lower exposure to malicious code, and aesthetic improvements out the wazoo to all the sites you read. All at the cost of, in the abstract, some time in the future, the site you're reading having to pursuing alternate revenue models like subscription revenue, commercial affiliate revenue, or using ads that can't expose users to cut-rate Lithuanian malware.
And as for replicating the green lock functionality browsers already have by telling me whether a site is encrypted, this is increasingly a moot point; adoption for TLS has already passed a tipping point and when Google (the search engine real humans actually use) begins degrading non-encrypted search results in the next year adoption will only accelerate. Skate to where the puck is headed, not where it was two years ago.
Although DDG is very good, Startpage is still better. DDG is faster, but it's also hosted on Amazon Web Services while Startpage operates its own servers. Startpage also uses POST rather than GET by default, unlike DDG.
Let me be clear: I appreciate DDG. I'm glad it's growing. It's doing good work. I use it often. The three main things DDG could do to match Startpage on security would be:
1. Use POST by default
2. Implement a proxy feature
3. Move everything onto its own servers
DDG is also in a much better position to roll out widespread private search to the masses than is Startpage, so I hope they keep innovating. Startpage also turns out better results because it pulls from Google, but that poses a host of other problems. DDG can become a major market player here, but it still needs work.
DuckDuckGo is based out of Pennsylvania and is run by a Jew.
You Russiaphobes are suffering from severe mental illness and need help.
As soon as a site goes big production it suffers the spooks. Eg. Mozilla and all of it's new "features".
In a nutshell, the problem with DuckDuckGo is that it sucks. Or at least it did, a few months ago, when I used as my only search engine for two weeks. In the end, I had to go back to Google - they are just on an altogether different level. I really hope that DuckDuckGo will improve, and will eventually become comparable to Google. It is not there yet.
It is really private if DuckDuckGo sees every page you look at?
and it takes care of all devices on your network. Moreover, if you set up a VPN, you can also take advantage of the Pi-hole from your mobile devices whilst you are away from home. Works a charm. Been running a Raspberry Pi, Raspian, and Pi-hole for a bit of time now, and I must say, it's an impressive bit of kit. You can add additional block lists to the Pi-hole for even more blocking. Whitelists are also possible, should you need to allow for something.
The default blocklist hits 95% of the bad stuff, including coin miners, the vast majority of ad networks, and the basic dreck one encounters online. I supplement the Pi-hole with uBlock Origin, although this is more to block the stuff the Pi-hole might miss. I also use Decentraleyes, and Webmail Ad Blocker to get rid of the horrid frames in outlook.com.
The Pi-hole works by dint of blocking the DNS calls to the ad networks so your devices never even have to negotiate the potential problems by allowing them through your router gateway. I wish I would have done this sooner.
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Ads/script/malware rob speed/security/privacy/bandwidth.
Hosts add speed (via hardcodes/adblocks), security (vs. bad sites/malware/poisoned dns), reliability (vs. dns down), & anonymity (vs. dns requestlogs/trackers).
Less power/cpu/ram + IO use vs. DNS/routers/addons/antivir + less security bugs/complexity & faster vs. av/addons/routers/remote dns!
Avoids DNSChangers in routers/IP settings & dns redirect (99++% of ISP DNS != patched vs. it) + DNS tracking & lighten DNS load & resolve faster via local RAM!
* Via what u NATIVELY have in a FASTER kernelmode IP stack (does more w/ less).
APK
P.S. - You don't need anything more than what you have in hosts & this to populate it vs. threats galore + more speed... apk
It's the best place to buy quack.
When you search something on Duckduckgo and click something, the javascript send URL and keyword and other data to duckduckgo in background. Also the website query to each websites for favicon.ico automatically so the website owner know someone is search them on DDG.
Use searx instances instead.
And one more thing - their firefox extensions silently report your data to DDG servers. Unpack and read.
So, now when I open Safari I get an unrequested DuckDuckGo tab displayed, even without actually using the extension during that session. Looks like DuckDuckGo is DuckDuckGone on my system.