In short: DuckDuckGo portrays itself as a defender of consumer privateness by means of its search engine and browser. Nevertheless, a safety researcher has discovered the corporate has an settlement with Microsoft that attaches asterisks to that promise. DuckDuckGo has since defended its relationship with Microsoft, which it’s attempting to amend.
Replace: DuckDuckGo reached out to us for some clarification though our authentic story was correct. Then once more, we perceive there is likely to be some confusion between DuckDuckGo, the search engine, and DuckDuckGo’s browser apps. CEO Gabriel Weinberg printed a protracted put up on Reddit which explains in higher element what is going on on in the event you’re .
The DuckDuckGo browser is meant to dam trackers from advertisers that promote and commerce consumer information. Nevertheless, earlier this week, safety researcher Zack Edwards discovered that it permits Microsoft to trace information by means of LinkedIn and Bing advert domains.
DuckDuckGo’s website has a web page admitting that it has an settlement permitting Microsoft to supply advertisements subsequent to look outcomes. It says Microsoft does not retailer ad-click conduct information or use it to profile customers however does not point out the trackers sending information by means of LinkedIn and Bing.
For non-search tracker blocking (eg in our browser), we block most third-party trackers. Sadly our Microsoft search syndication settlement prevents us from doing extra to Microsoft-owned properties. Nevertheless, we now have been regularly pushing and count on to be doing extra quickly.
— Gabriel Weinberg (@yegg) May 23, 2022
In response to these claims, DuckDuckGo founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg admitted its settlement with Microsoft forces it to permit that firm’s trackers. Weinberg predictably asserts that his firm continues to be extra non-public than different browsers as a result of it blocks most non-Microsoft third-party trackers. DuckDuckGo is negotiating with Microsoft to take away that clause and can change the cellular browser’s app retailer web page descriptions to tell customers higher.
This difficulty relates solely to DuckDuckGo’s browser. The search engine, quite the opposite, does not give Microsoft particular therapy. It simply goes to point out that it is in all probability unattainable to stay utterly nameless on-line, although some safety is likely to be higher than none.
