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Use DuckDuckGo to improve your privacy online (2018)

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Re: Use DuckDuckGo to improve your privacy online (2018)

#61

Post by ignoramous »

mrweasel wrote: post #22
pixelbreaker wrote: post #12

I first tried DDG in its early years and it just didn't yield the results I needed, I tried it again a couple of years ago and have stuck with it ever since as it has must better results these days.

Every now and then I search for something and don't get the results I'd expect. So I turn to Google, but for the past year or so I noticed that Google can't find what I expect for those search terms either. The difference seems to be that Google starts guessing and excluding keywords, without understanding that those keywords where important. For me personally, Google is a less pleasant experience these days. The Duc…

Try https://startpage.com They pay Google to proxy their generic non personalized results.

Re: Use DuckDuckGo to improve your privacy online (2018)

#62

Post by zolthrowaway »

pixelbreaker wrote: post #12

I first tried DDG in its early years and it just didn't yield the results I needed, I tried it again a couple of years ago and have stuck with it ever since as it has must better results these days.

I agree. In general, DDG tends to have pretty solid results now. I'm glad it doesn't think it knows what I'm searching for better than I do. The one advantage I will give Google is that the layout can be better in some situations. For example, if I'm getting multiple results from StackOverflow and MDN on the same query, I like how Google groups them. Also, searching for something like sports scores is a better experience on Google because I don't need to click into any links. Other than that, I find DDG just as good if not better in almost every other area.

Re: Use DuckDuckGo to improve your privacy online (2018)

#64

Post by FabHK »

Kiro wrote: post #55
johnsea wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bing or not. For me important is that it is outside Google's reach. This prevents aggregating search (history) with e.g. gmail, contacts, location etc. Also important is, that DDG now works reasonably good in most cases.

Thank you. I support that. What I don't support is people saying it's a false claim when DDG is completely transparent about it themselves.

Does Bing offer the same privacy advantages (no tracking, no history based ads, etc.)?

EDIT to add: I think nobody disputes or cares that most results come from (or equal) Bing results, as long as they're good enough.

Re: Use DuckDuckGo to improve your privacy online (2018)

#65

Post by puzzle »

Kiro wrote: post #20

As usual most of the comments here are "I made the switch and couldn't be happier" and have nothing to do with the actual submission. Therefore I feel obligated to post my usual rant about DDG just being a wrapper for Bing.

The most peculiar thing about building on top of Bing's index, when it comes to privacy, is that Bing itself was caught looking at the queries and clicks of Google users during the "hiybbprqag" affaire. It was quite telling that Microsoft didn't turn that off even after getting outed.

Re: Use DuckDuckGo to improve your privacy online (2018)

#67

Post by maewsa »

sp332 wrote: post #28
maewsa wrote: post #14

Does this offer anything unique that other content blockers cannot? From what I can see it would only be the forced encryption and I guess the letter grade. I love DDG for search but not sure this browser competes with 1Blocker X Safari integration on iOS.

It's not a content blocker. It does have a lot of "instant answers" with information put in a box next to search results so you don't even have to click through. e.g. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=who+is+the+prime+minister+of+malay... Also it has "bangs" which give you shortcuts to lots of other services. https://duckduckgo.com/bang

Guess I worded it a bit strangely but this acts like a content blocker on iOS, but in it's own browser. Most commenters are just commenting on the search engine but this post is about their mobile browser.

I was just curious what benefits you get from switching to this browser vs. using a content blocker with Safari.

Re: Use DuckDuckGo to improve your privacy online (2018)

#68

Post by vanadium »

owaty wrote: post #50
vanadium wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

!s = Startpage, anonymizing by proxy the Google SERPs. I know, I'm having to retrain my DDG Bang muscle memory myself.

Do they have a contract with google? Or how do they get around captchas and cease and desists?

"Startpage acts as an intermediary between you and Google, so your searches are completely private. Startpage submits your query to Google anonymously, then returns Google results to you privately. Google never sees you and does not know who made the request; they only see Startpage."

From: https://support.startpage.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Artic...

More: https://support.startpage.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/List/...

Re: Use DuckDuckGo to improve your privacy online (2018)

#69

Post by leokennis »

Switched to DDG about two years ago. First, it was worse than Google. However in the meantime, DDG has improved a bit and Google got worse, showing a lot of performance devrading crap/boxes/large text instead of search results.

So DDG is now all around the better choice.

Re: Use DuckDuckGo to improve your privacy online (2018)

#70

Post by runjake »

ignoramous wrote: post #61
mrweasel wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every now and then I search for something and don't get the results I'd expect. So I turn to Google, but for the past year or so I noticed that Google can't find what I expect for those search terms either. The difference seems to be that Google starts guessing and excluding keywords, without understanding that those keywords where important. For me personally, Google is a less pleasant experience these days. The Duc…

Try https://startpage.com They pay Google to proxy their generic non personalized results.

Some people are going to ask "How does Startpage make its money?" and fortunately they've put that info in their Privacy Policy:

  Our search result pages may include a small number of 
  clearly labeled "sponsored links", which generate revenue
  and cover our operational costs. Those links are retrieved
  from platforms such as Google Adwords. In order to enable
  the prevention of click fraud, some non-identifying system
  information is shared, but because we never share personal
  information or information that could uniquely identify 
  you, the ads we display are not connected to any 
  individual user."
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