this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
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Privacy
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Everything you type in the chat box is sent to the LLM provider but they get Duck Duck Go's IP instead of yours.
So if you type personal things its mostly just like typing them directly to ChatGPT. However, with duck.ai your IP, Browser info, Location (if shared), etc is seen by Duck Duck Go instead of OpenAI.
I don't think DuckDuckGo is lying when they say that they don't use your chats to train models. However, that leaves plenty for OpenAI and Duck Duck Go to do with your chats, like building shadow profiles.
I suggest that if you want to be anonymous to Duck Duck Go, then use duck.ai via vpn or tor. Always assume the content of your chat session is being logged by the LLM provider.
What do you mean by "shadow profile"?
Like a dossier which identifies you only by some ID which is used to compile data about you but never includes your direct personal info (name, email, home address, mobile number) so they don't have to tell you or ever delete it, even under laws like GDPR.
How can they tie it to me tho? Or use it against me? Especially if behind ddg "proxy"
They can tie it to you by cross-referencing all the signals they have about you with data collected from other data collectors and aggregators. With enough data they can connect things like browser fingerprints and so-called anonymous ad IDs with your real identity.
Keep in mind that there is a good number of technical people whose job it is everyday to continuously figure out new ways to track everything they can about every person they can. These data collector and brokers have demonstrated time and again that they don't really care about following the rules either. Here's a good resource for more info https://noyb.eu/en
In terms of how they use it against you, this is some good info and it applies even if you aren't American https://epic.org/issues/consumer-privacy/data-brokers/
Oh well all of this explains why I sometimes get instagram ADS which are relevant to me on my work phone even if I looked for stuff on my PC browser or smartphone (all using adblocks, deegogled android, private DNS, tracker blockers, private browsers and other preventive measures).
I didn't realize they could literally track you probabilistically or they could tie different devices to you..
So essentially if I use my amazon account on the same PC (or on a device tied to me) that I use for looking at "cat food" I am screwed and they will know I have a cat and amazon will start advertising cat stuff to me?
I did know they tracked you, but I thought it had to be a consistent set of datas: accounts, unprotected browsing, keeping cookies for a long time etc etc.. I didn't know they could probabilistically try to catch you nor that they could so reliably tie devices togheter.. I would like to know more about what they can actually do and what are preventive measures that actually works..
For example: can they (and how) get over tracker blockers? VPNs? Proxies? Private DNS? Degoogled devices/Linux?
What I've got to do if I want to be on the internet preserving my privacy? Should I literally stop using the internet? Should I use devices on which I do not login on a normal account ever and just use my self hosted stuff or the federated web?
And what about all the data they already have on me, it will be their's forever??
This is getting ridiculous, we need new solutions, the internet as we now know it is completely screwed.
If you want to be extreme, you only use devices that control all the software on and you are very careful about what software you run. You always use a killswitch vpn. You choose carefully the websites you use and you use all the standard counter measures (ublockorigin,DoH,uMatrix,pihole,etc) at all times. You keep another laptop that has whatever you need to install to be able to use your bank and the online shopping you can't live without. You use it for nothing else.
Even then its not perfect. I'm pretty sure that all Android, iOS, and Windows devices track the wifi access point name and mac address of all the ones you use. They also track the location of all the access points as seen by everyone elses location enabled devices. Easy for them to combine that to basically know where every visible wifi in the world is.