If DDG cannot fetch the favicon in different, reasonable way, then the question is whether or not the ability to display a favicon in search results is really worth it.
Personally, no.
DuckDuckGo browser seemingly sends domains a user visits to DDG servers
341–350 of 531 posts
Re: DuckDuckGo browser seemingly sends domains a user visits to DDG servers
#342There's an interesting disease showing up here in the responses. I accept DDG's statement that this is about a favicon and that they "do not collect or share any personal information", and despite that, I also agree with others that DDG should be on the safe side and just stop doing this small thing. It's just the safer and more moral thing to do (So DDG, as many are suggesting, plz stop doing it. Today is good). But…
> ignoring the genuinely huger issue of the amount of info and mining that google By using DuckDuckGo you're doing the opposite of ignoring privacy issues in Google products. And hence the reaction. Why use DDG at all, if they're not safely protecting your private data 100%?
Google: stripmines everything. Would collect your soul if it could[0]. DDG: favicon fuckup. And you can't see the difference?
> Why use DDG at all, if they're not safely protecting your private data 100%?
Says the man who's willingly chosen to spunk his real name, the company he works for, his position within said company, his photograph and I'm sure I could find much else besides, over the web. Then asks for 100% privacy.
[0] which some people would give up willingly for a little silver, but that's another matter.
Re: DuckDuckGo browser seemingly sends domains a user visits to DDG servers
#343There's an interesting disease showing up here in the responses. I accept DDG's statement that this is about a favicon and that they "do not collect or share any personal information", and despite that, I also agree with others that DDG should be on the safe side and just stop doing this small thing. It's just the safer and more moral thing to do (So DDG, as many are suggesting, plz stop doing it. Today is good). But…
I disagree, or maybe we read different responses, but the ones I read where more critical of how (a) ddg (employee) handled this.
Didn't see anyone claim that this was on a google-level of bad, more like pointing out that google started out as a small company wanting to "do no evil", but slowly turned into what it is today.
Is it really that weird that people are worried that this might be the first of many small steps down the slippery slope?
Re: DuckDuckGo browser seemingly sends domains a user visits to DDG servers
#344created a new issue to track this again: https://github.com/duckduckgo/Android/issues/876
Re: DuckDuckGo browser seemingly sends domains a user visits to DDG servers
#345There's an interesting disease showing up here in the responses. I accept DDG's statement that this is about a favicon and that they "do not collect or share any personal information", and despite that, I also agree with others that DDG should be on the safe side and just stop doing this small thing. It's just the safer and more moral thing to do (So DDG, as many are suggesting, plz stop doing it. Today is good). But…
> But... the reaction here is "they made a mistake, let's pile on like kids in a playground" ignoring the genuinely huger issue of the amount of info and mining that google et al. do. There's no measure of proportion in the responses, someone is making a mistake then there's a wolfish, pack-like desire to get stuck in and hurt someone.
Sadly people simply derive satisfaction from piling on like this. The pop psychology explanation is that it's because people are dissatisfied with their own lives and are lashing out at anything that allows them to vent that underlying frustration. It sounds plausible, but it also sounds like it might be an over-generalisation.
I think it's certainly fair to say - as depressing as it is - that it may be somewhat in our nature to behave in this way, that most or all of us may possess this characteristic to a greater or lesser extent, and that the current political, cultural, economic, and media climate is only serving to amplify that tendency.
Re: DuckDuckGo browser seemingly sends domains a user visits to DDG servers
#346Hi all, Founder and CEO of DuckDuckGo here. I’m literally just waking up and reading the comments here. I’m new to this issue and happy to commit us to move to doing this locally in the browser and will have us move on that ASAP. That said, I want to be clear that we did not and have not collected any personal information here. As other staff have referenced, our services are encrypted and throw away PII like IP addr…
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Re: DuckDuckGo browser seemingly sends domains a user visits to DDG servers
#347Earlier quoted context omitted.
We had already had created this anonymous favicon service for our private search engine. In addition, doing it this way avoids another request (and potentially multiple) to the end site. The service is private as we do not collect any personal information (e.g. IP addresses) on any requests for this or any service and the requests are all end-to-end encrypted.
Please don't downvote this reply from a DDG staff member (as I'm currently seeing). Even if you don't like the reply it's good that we're getting replies.
But we are not. It is just the same reply parroted in multiple places without responding to the actual criticisms.
Re: DuckDuckGo browser seemingly sends domains a user visits to DDG servers
#348Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not so sure. I think the privacy-functionality trade-off is understood and expected by the users, it woul be used by very few people if it were extremely spartan. (But this instance, the favicon service, is not a good privacy-functionality trade-off)
What would a browser even need a backend for? The only valid use that I can think of is Google's Safe Browsing list, but if ad blocking can be implemented totally on-device, surely that can, too?
The use case I was going to suggest was a safe browsing list. Possibly also something like Have I been Pwned. So, yes, there are valid reasons to have a backend but they are very narrow and privacy is key when building them.
Re: DuckDuckGo browser seemingly sends domains a user visits to DDG servers
#349Formerly worked with DuckDuckGo My advice: Install ungoogled-chromium: https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium Install these extensions: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock https://github.com/ilGur1132/Smart-HTTPS There is also a Chromium extension that lets you install from Chrome Web Store: https://github.com/NeverDecaf/chromium-web-store Set duckduckgo.com as your default search engine with a blank home page.…
Your "Security harden your mac" guide has a bunch of amazon affiliate links, it would be good to call that out when piggybacking on a post about privacy at least.
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Re: DuckDuckGo browser seemingly sends domains a user visits to DDG servers
#350Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does Gabriel know about this? If not could you please clue him in and get some guidance because you are absolutely getting roasted here and are wrecking DDG's carefully built up reputation. I can easily see how this might seem to be a good idea to you and other DDG engineers but it goes 180 degrees against DDG's stated mission. In other words: you may be well outside your paygrade on this.
I don't think it's fair to say this comment is 'wrecking DDG's carefully built up reputation'. If what he describes is damaging their reputation to you, that's on the business, not on the commenter. If anything, the commenter seems to have been honest and straightforward with what's going on. Sounds like you'd prefer him to have run a message past management/public relations first?
If you speak in a public form in response to something that seems damaging to the reputation of the company in a way that is probably even more damaging to the reputation of that company you are either an official spokesperson or way out of your depth. Pointing that out is a service, not a sleight. And yes, if this is not in an official capacity he should either keep quiet or run it by the PR dept. People have lost their jobs for far less. Anyway, I've pinged @yegg, hopefully he can shine some light on this.