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DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

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Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#121

Post by nunobrito »

DuckDuckGo is only private if you trust their word.

Over the years they continue to refuse access for a trusted third-party auditor to review their infrastructure and validate (or not) their claims of privacy.

The preference of Android to place DDG in Europe (31 out of 31 countries) is strange when considering privacy as argument. Then is placed this "info.com" as second option on all European countries (31 out of 31 countries) which is virtually unheard about, and again a US-based service which again raises eyebrows on privacy.

Europe-wide has a search engine that deserves our preference, and that is http://qwant.com

Precisely because it is built and hosted in Europe. Yet, it is displayed as the last option and only as an option for 8 out of 31 european countries. Very strange. Talking from Germany, the preference here would be http://ecosia.com

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#122

Post by fghgfhg »

puranjay wrote: post #102
therealmarv wrote: post #10

It's somehow funny to see that Bing search results are so successful when packaged with privacy in mind into DuckDuckGo. I don't like bing search results, especially for Europe. They are just bad for many local things. The only other search engine beside Google which is interesting and surprising for me is maybe Yandex. It's also not as good as Google in (most of) Europe but it's interesting to see that many things a…

When I was in Russia, I was constantly surprised by the quality of Yandex's services. Their map data was far superior to Google Maps and their cab app felt better than Uber.

> Their map data was far superior to Google Maps and their cab app felt better than Uber.

How?

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#123

Post by fghgfhg »

Fat_Thor wrote: post #26

I would like to see Mozilla Firefox be forced to do the same. As of now, they don't even notify the user of their default Google search to the users. So millions of their user url typing history are being recorded and sent to Google even if they don't use the search function specifically. This in someway has to violates the GDPR.

>they don't even notify the user of their default Google search to the users.

After your start typing it clearly says "Serach in Google"

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#124

Post by Accacin »

nunobrito wrote: post #121

DuckDuckGo is only private if you trust their word. Over the years they continue to refuse access for a trusted third-party auditor to review their infrastructure and validate (or not) their claims of privacy. The preference of Android to place DDG in Europe (31 out of 31 countries) is strange when considering privacy as argument. Then is placed this "info.com" as second option on all European countries (31 out of 31…

Not doubting you, but do you have any sources for your claims?

I will use Qwant in the future but at the minute it's not suitable (IMO) for daily usage.

Ecosia seems like a great idea, but these kind of 'Search and earn' sites have always seemed like a scam to me and I can't find any reason to trust Ecosia over DDG.

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#125

Post by franga2000 »

inertiatic wrote: post #91
franga2000 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as they don't alter the search results to give those links an advantage, I have no problem with them using affiliate links. It makes them money to absolutely no loss to me, right?

If for convenience I search for "Amazon product X" on my browser bar instead of directly on Amazon, that means that in order for Amazon to generate a certain amount of profit on that product they also have to pay my search engine now, which means all other things equal, this costs me money. Of course in real life it's not that simple a situation but it's easy to see that everyone behaving like this ends up with the c…

From what I understand, affiliate links pay out only when you buy something. Traditionally, this was taken from the seller's margin and the price of the product was not increased, as the higher volume of sales made up multiple times for the loss from commissions.

But since Amazon gets nothing from the "passive" affiliate links (ones that don't increase volume), DDG might be big enough to make them have to compensate. Would be interesting to see the numbers for this...

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#126

Post by izacus »

deeblering4 wrote: post #12
priitmaxx wrote: post #7

Same thing happened to Microsoft with browser selection. This does not really change anything. Google search results are just better.

Great point, IE is just better /s

Your pointless sarcasm is missing the core of the post: IE was dethroned when Firefox and Chrome came along (a hugely superior browsers), not when EU forced MS to provide a choice.

Apple has learned from this it seems - you're banned from running any other browser engine on their platforms so this can't happen again on iOS.

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#127

Post by Vinnl »

blululu wrote: post #76

Something that doesn't sit well with me about DuckDuckGo is their hidden use of affiliate links to Amazon and eBay. Fundamentally search engines are vulnerable to predatory business models. Privacy is one issue. Providing financially motivated information is another. To my knowledge (would love to hear more), Google is pretty up front about what is an ad and what isn't while DuckDuckGo covertly sells you to Amazon wh…

I don't know what you intend "hidden" to mean, but they're not lying about it:

> DuckDuckGo is part of the affiliate programs of the eCommerce websites Amazon and eBay. When you visit those sites through DuckDuckGo, including when using !bangs, and subsequently make a purchase, we receive a small commission.

> This mechanism operates anonymously and there is no personally identifiable information exchanged between us and Amazon or eBay. These links are regular organic links (like any other link in our results) and these programs do not influence our ranking or relevancy functions in any way. That is, they are not advertising like paid placements or paid inclusions, and we only generate revenue from them if you ultimately find them relevant enough to end up purchasing an item.

https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/company/ad...

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#128

Post by askvictor »

fghgfhg wrote: post #122
puranjay wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was in Russia, I was constantly surprised by the quality of Yandex's services. Their map data was far superior to Google Maps and their cab app felt better than Uber.

> Their map data was far superior to Google Maps and their cab app felt better than Uber. How?

Haven't been to Russia or used Yandex, but I'd guess that the Russian Govt/Agencies give more accurate/up-to-date data to a Russian company instead of Google? This and a local presence to understand local nuances etc.

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#129

Post by askvictor »

mackrevinack wrote: post #116
gempir wrote: post #93

I personally hope DDG is going to namechange soon. I don't hate their name, but if you present the user with a choice of - Google - DuckDuckGo - Yandex Why would he click the "silly" option besides humor. It's a bad brand name IMO

Google is a fairly silly name for a search engine as well but they seem to be doing ok for themselves

And Yahoo! was for quite a while the king of the internet.

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#130

Post by rambojazz »

nunobrito wrote: post #121

DuckDuckGo is only private if you trust their word. Over the years they continue to refuse access for a trusted third-party auditor to review their infrastructure and validate (or not) their claims of privacy. The preference of Android to place DDG in Europe (31 out of 31 countries) is strange when considering privacy as argument. Then is placed this "info.com" as second option on all European countries (31 out of 31…

> DuckDuckGo is only private if you trust their word.

This a million times. For the same reasons why I don't trust proprietary (closed source) crypto software.

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