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DuckDuckGo Denies Using Fingerprinting To Track Its Users (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the setting-the-record dept.

Mark Wilson writes: Responding to a forum post that accused it of 'fingerprinting users', privacy-centric search engine DuckDuckGo says that fears are unfounded and that it is not tracking its users. The allegation was made after the Firefox extension CanvasBlocker showed a warning to users. The suggestion of fingerprinting -- gathering as much information as possible about a user through their browser to create a unique identifier that can be used for tracking -- is clearly something that would seem to sit in opposition to what DuckDuckGo claims to stand for. The company CEO says the accusation is simply wrong.

5 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. this is based on a forum post? by GregMmm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, one guy on posts on a forum a certain API is being blocked by his Firefox extension CanvasBlocker. Not that the one individual has anything showing some tracking and data gathering, he just sees an API being used. Without any real evidence what so ever. Sounds like someone wants to sow seeds of mistrust at DuckDuckGo.

  2. The inevitable attack could be a good sign by Lucas123 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Support Duckduckgo.com. I've been using it for years and have seen the amount of spam in my inbox and even social media go WAY down. We need more services like Duckduckgo.com, not fewer.

    But, perhaps the inevitable attack on them is showing some success. I'm hopeful.

  3. Re:Silly name by ArchieBunker · · Score: 5, Informative

    They still index torrent sites while google keeps shuffling them further down the listings.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  4. Re:Silly name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Google search has become useless for me (search tech related issues) - too many sponsored ads and content farms.

    Duck Duck go doesn't have all the advertising, and I am getting useful results when searching for issues.

  5. Sources of DuckDuckGo's revenue by tepples · · Score: 5, Informative

    The difference is that while some other services show ads based on interests inferred from your previous viewing history, DuckDuckGo shows ads based only on the context of your search query. DuckDuckGo also adds its referral tag to Amazon product URLs in search results.

    (Source: "How Does DuckDuckGo Make Money? DuckDuckGo Business Model Explained")