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Ask HN: Does DuckDuckGo share user IPs with Microsoft?
11–16 of 16 posts
Re: Ask HN: Does DuckDuckGo share user IPs with Microsoft?
#12[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Does DuckDuckGo share user IPs with Microsoft?
#13Hi, I'm from DuckDuckGo. We absolutely do not send IP addresses to others, nor do we store them ourselves. We have a help page entitled 'How DuckDuckGo Keeps Your Local Search Results Anonymous' that explains how we can nevertheless get decent local results: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/privacy/anonymo...
Re: Ask HN: Does DuckDuckGo share user IPs with Microsoft?
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
>it means that they shares (let's say) the gussed city name with Microsoft. I'm not sure I understand or maybe I'm missing something, sharing the guessed city is not "technically" sharing your IP address? (I understand that it's still sharing more info than what you thought) Let's say the steps are: 1. You type in "exhibition" to ddg 2. DDG sends "exhibition in " to Bing using its own random datacenter IP address 3.…
You are right. But, it shares my gussed city name, which most of the time is very accurate. Then it says we throw away the IP and gussed city name, which is correct. But they have shared the city name with Microsoft. I will update the title to fit the described problem.
As a general rule, the more unpopulated your locale is and the more niche your searches from that location are the easier it is for Microsoft to create a profile of you despite ddg's own intentions.
For example, you would probably be the only Real Betis fanatic who builds their own smart home devices suffering with tongue cancer and who happens to live in , and Microsft could establish that profile as long as ddg sends the town info to Microsoft with every separate search within some time window.
Re: Ask HN: Does DuckDuckGo share user IPs with Microsoft?
#15I've turned the title into a question so it can be consistent with the information in the comments.
(Submitted title was "Tell HN: DuckDuckGo shares users IP with Microsoft")
Re: Ask HN: Does DuckDuckGo share user IPs with Microsoft?
#16Best I understand is that DDG may do localisation based on IP geolookup, but not specific geolocation. The DuckDuckGo help pages address this specifically: There may be cases when you want more accurate location-based results like local weather and restaurants. We can still serve results for searches like these (including instant answers and ads) while keeping you anonymous. To do this, DuckDuckGo Search simply guess…
Sorry, I updated the title. By location I meant IP. If we have location-based results it means that they shares (let's say) the gussed city name with Microsoft. Saying *we throw away both the guessed location and the IP address* is bullshit. They share it with Microsoft, and Microsoft keeps it.
As others have noted, and DDG themselves have clarified, it's possible to request a geospecified result without disclosing to Microsoft Bing either your IP address or anything personally identifying.
Your initial accusation here and follow-up are unwarranted.