It would’ve been one thing if they were upfront about this, but hiding it means they can’t be trusted. Time to look for a new search engine. Any one know any other tracker-resistant search engines?
I looked into this because I use DuckDuckGo and I think it’s really important to keep organizations accountable especially when they claim to be different TM than shitty ones. So it looks like this is true (as of now) for the mobile browser application specifically, not the search engine in general.
which means that using the search engine on another browser like Firefox should be fine, and also now is a great time to let the company know exactly why you are uninstalling their *application* on your device to hopefully either force a backpedal or heavily discourage further shit like this down the line.
it’s a slimy move to be sure. I just think it’s important to be specific and precise. Here’s another article on the subject:
This news originated with Zach Edwards. It is not widely reported IMO and I wish it was to help with the confusion. The best I can tell, DDG was not allowed to discuss the agreement with Microsoft but after Mr. Edwards tweeted about the issue the DDG CEO clarified.
The issue at hand is, while most of our protections like 3rd-party cookie blocking apply to Microsoft scripts on 3rd-party sites (again, this is off of DuckDuckGo,com, i.e., not related to search), we are currently contractually restricted by Microsoft from completely stopping them from loading (the one above-and-beyond protection explained in the last paragraph) on 3rd party sites. We still restrict them though (e.g., no 3rd party cookies allowed). The original example was Workplace.com loading a LinkedIn.com script. Nevertheless, we have been and are working with Microsoft as we speak to reduce or remove this limited restriction.
The issue impacts iOS/Android browser users, as noted above, by not blocking the flow of tracking information to Microsoft sites like LinkedIn and Bing. The agreement is related to DDG’s syndication of Bing search results. If you don’t visit Microsoft sites on DuckDuckGo’s browser on mobile, this doesn’t affect you.
But @anarchy-in-new-vegas asks an important question, we want to have multiple search engines at our disposal. In addition to DuckDuckGo, check out StartPage(with the caveat since they were acquired their future is uncertain), Qwant(sanitized Bing results), and SearX, just to provide a few examples. These tools provide varying results and YMMV on any given topic, but if you’re digging deep on a subject you’ll want to use multiple search tools anyway. Google and Bing are difficult to compete with due to their sheer breadth, but as Google search results become increasingly junkified, look to hand-curated directories for specific and niche topics.
For up-to-date privacy recommendations, check out privacytools.io
Trust no one. Seriously. Everything you ever say can be used against you and your written word is permanent. Think before you speak or write. Watch your back.
