‘Privacy’ Search Engine DuckDuckGo Smoked Over Hidden Tracking Agreement With Microsoft

DuckDuckGo, the search engine which claims to offer ‘real privacy’ because it doesn’t track searches or store users’ history, has come under fire after a security researcher discovered that the mobile DuckDuckGo browser app contains a third-party tracker from Microsoft.

Researcher Zach Edwards found that while Google and Facebook’s trackers are blocked, trackers related to bing.com and linkedin.com were also being allowed through.

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Hal P
Hal P
2 years ago

Does not surprise me, even VPNs do not protect you anymore.

Thomas Angle
Thomas Angle
2 years ago
Reply to  Hal P

Finally someone who know a little about the internet.

Havoc50
Havoc50
2 years ago

https://youtu.be/9z3_Em4S99g

If its digital expect.it.to be spying on you. Best strategy is outlined in video above. Use several different ones and purposely feed them bad data.

Thomas Angle
Thomas Angle
2 years ago
Reply to  Havoc50

Best strategy is to use other forms of comms that use other forms of encryption.

Thomas Angle
Thomas Angle
2 years ago

There is nothing private or safe on the internet. Well, you can hide pretty well if you have the skills, but the average Joe has no idea how to do it. They feed you things like Tor and such to corral you into a small circle where they do not have to work as hard to monitor you. Don’t believe me, ask you smart fridge, TV, Alexa, your phone, your car, etc..

2 of 5
2 of 5
2 years ago
Reply to  Thomas Angle

You are spot on TA! The only superficially safe conversation you can have is the face to face one.

You can add to your list, your power meter, wireless cameras, game camera’s.

enn ess
enn ess
2 years ago
Reply to  Thomas Angle

Nothing in our modern society is private, but this is the world we created all for the the sake of convenience and progress. It damn sure has not really made our lives any better, only more convoluted and complicated, which leads into the not having time to do the things we would like to do anymore.
You are simply earmarking more of your limited time doing things you deem as “essential” over things that are actually important and life enhancing to you.
The only way you can maintain anonymity anymore is to shut it all down, turn it off, go outside, interact face to face with those you care about and get back to Life as it was meant to be lived, without all the convenience sake catastrophe driven events occurring.
Unless I actually need to search for parts or communicate with someone distant or look into available info about the world events (as in visiting this fine site), all my stuff gets turned off, and is not available to anyone without me personally turning it back on. And no it cannot even be turned on remotely.
The answer is NO! Because I say so, thats why.
Now I gotta go, It’s not 40 below, I don’t need a heater in the truck, and it’s not a real Rodeo, it’s just a shitshow.
Ya’ll have good day now ya hear!

Chris
Chris
2 years ago

There’s NO “secure” search engines. The “govt” demands a key to them all. And they all comply.
CIII

Hammers Thor
2 years ago

You cannot make your electronic communication bulletproof. You can, however, make it significantly more robust, and force the government to spend a lot of resources to spy on you. It’s not just a VPN, or TOR, or P2P, or a “secure” browser (no such thing -- most websites wouldn’t work if the security was truly strong).

A combination of several protocols is a must. Everyone should use them, because we SHOULD make it difficult for the Death Star to spy on us.

A pretty good tool to test your browser security can be found here: https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/ The returns should indicate that you have STRONG PROTECTION against web tracking. This is achieved by using a browser such as Brave, but not only that, use the uBlock Origin extension, Decentraleyes, WebRTC Protect, and of course Brave Shields. Additionally, use a good, paid VPN that is not based in one of the 14 eyes jurisdictions (such as NORDVPN or ProtonVPN), and utilize the tools provided (including the Kill Switch). Regularly change the server (like every time you log in).

Stop using Google. Just stop. Never use it again. Don’t use DuckDuckGo either. Brave Search is only slightly better at privacy, but the search results are no better than Google, or Bing. Mojeek is not bad as far as results and privacy, and SwissCows is also pretty good. Giburu is an option, and Ixquick is worth looking at. Try them all, and select one that meets your needs and make it the default search engine.

Anyone that tells you that you shouldn’t use TOR, or shouldn’t use TOR combined with a VPN, is referencing 10 year old information. Use it or don’t, but combined with a VPN it’s significantly more secure than what you are doing now.

Close your damned gmail account. Switch to Protonmail, or Tutanota.

Lastly, if you do all of these things, and are still on Windows or Mac, then you’re just pissing into a gale. Switch to Linux.