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Is DuckDuckGo safe? A deep dive into privacy and how it compares to other search engines (proton.me)

submitted 2 days ago by Sunshine@piefed.ca to c/privacy@programming.dev

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[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 23 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I'd love to hear a TLDR on that.

[–] yestalgia@lemmy.world 41 points 2 days ago

TLDR: It's 99% good and you should feel comfortable using it.

[–] qprimed@lemmy.ml 27 points 2 days ago (2 children)

from the article...

Is DuckDuckGo right for you?

If you’re committed to shoring up your digital privacy, using DuckDuckGo is a good choice for privacy-focused users. While no tool is perfect, DuckDuckGo offers a robust, transparent alternative to traditional search engines. It works best as part of a broader privacy strategy; combining DuckDuckGo or another private search engine with a private browser, a VPN(new window), and a password manager is an effective way to improve your privacy while online.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thanks!
So, sounds much the same as with prior reviews.

I was worried something might have changed, recently. I seem to recall some negative news about DDG ~6mos ago but forgot what it was, exactly.

[–] YoSoySnekBoi@kbin.earth 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

IIRC it was mainly backlash for them integrating Microsoft ads without tracker blocking. They did walk it back after public backlash, though they still use Microsoft ads, just anonymously.

That and their recent generally AI-positive messaging has alienated anti-AI people, but they seem to be walking some of that back too.

To me it feels like they are generally good, but somewhat out of touch with their userbase, which causes a blunder here and there. They're also a US-based organization, so make of that what you will.

Personally I still use the NoAI version of DDG because no EU-based alternatives have feature parity yet.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago

Excellent, thank you!

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 days ago

I've been using it for a while and I've definitely noticed an absence of ads related to my search terms, so it seems to be pretty good for that.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Dont bother. These kinds of articles are completely worthless. DuckDuckGo is a service not a reviewable open piece of software. Services are everchanging and intransparent. Trying to evaluate their privacy situation is a pointless waste of time. They have no reason to be honest about their practices.

[–] Jiral@lemmy.org 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So are you suggesting to use no online services (how are you doing web searches?) or make completely uninformed choices on online services (because you can't know anyway)?

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No, im just saying that these kinds of articles are worthless.

[–] Jiral@lemmy.org 3 points 1 day ago

How do you then make a decision on which online services to use?