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DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites and YouTube-DL from Its Search Results

torrentfreak.com

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Re: DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites and YouTube-DL from Its Search Results

#161

Post by colordrops »

derevaunseraun wrote: post #73

Question: does anyone actually know what DDG does with user data? Like they market themselves as a "privacy respecting" search engine, but how much of this is truth? I'd imagine there's good money in convincing people they have privacy because then they'll provide more interesting data. Has the company ever been audited? Why should they be trusted to not compromise user privacy? Imo at least Google is honest: you kno…

I used them nearly exclusively and recommended them to all my friends. Once they started censoring content for political reasons (Ukraine), that ended instantly.

Re: DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites and YouTube-DL from Its Search Results

#162

Post by amelius »

zagrebian wrote: post #87
derevaunseraun wrote: post #73

Question: does anyone actually know what DDG does with user data? Like they market themselves as a "privacy respecting" search engine, but how much of this is truth? I'd imagine there's good money in convincing people they have privacy because then they'll provide more interesting data. Has the company ever been audited? Why should they be trusted to not compromise user privacy? Imo at least Google is honest: you kno…

If Duck really collects user data, the moment this is found out, they’re dead, so for that reason alone, they probably don’t do it. The alternative is that they’re betting everything on nobody ever finding out which sounds crazy.

Perhaps they just keep the data in a vault just in case it might become useful someday. Not many people need to know about that. It can be just some box sitting at the point where data enters the datacenter. That's the darkest theory I can come up with.

Anyway, I'm a happy DDG user (on devices where typing "!g" isn't a pain).

Re: DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites and YouTube-DL from Its Search Results

#163

Post by kwatsonafter »

throwawaybutwhy wrote: post #101
zagrebian wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Duck really collects user data, the moment this is found out, they’re dead, so for that reason alone, they probably don’t do it. The alternative is that they’re betting everything on nobody ever finding out which sounds crazy.

A certain philosopher named Occam would suggest that the simplest explanation for nobody finding out so far is that it is three-letter agencies who might be the ultimate funders and data buyers.

A certain philosopher named Occam would suggest that appeals to conspiracy are much harder to substantiate than appeals to incompetence or irresponsibility.

Re: DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites and YouTube-DL from Its Search Results

#164

Post by 8bitsrule »

derevaunseraun wrote: post #107
zagrebian wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Duck really collects user data, the moment this is found out, they’re dead, so for that reason alone, they probably don’t do it. The alternative is that they’re betting everything on nobody ever finding out which sounds crazy.

When I read about the founder and their privacy policy, I get the impression that this is something they care about. At the same time, as far as I know there has been no independent audit. Considering they made over 100 million in 2020, they clearly have the finances to fund an independent audit. It would also improve their reputation and clear up some of the uncertainty about their collection of user data in practic…

Back when DDG first started, Gabe was asking for ideas/opinions on features they had and might add, and I talked to him on the phone for a few minutes. He seemed a pleasant, sincere and honest person, and I've seen nothing since to contradict that. Unlikely he's got that kind of time any more ... here's a (2018?) interview (with Vivaldi, they'd just made DDB their default search), listen for yourself. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU9U26IWSYE]

Suspicious of most of the rotten-meat smells on the net as I am, I use DDG for everything. Compare the person(s) who said "Don't be evil" (then...) to picking the name DuckDuckGo.

Re: DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites and YouTube-DL from Its Search Results

#165

Post by mastazi »

zagrebian wrote: post #87
derevaunseraun wrote: post #73

Question: does anyone actually know what DDG does with user data? Like they market themselves as a "privacy respecting" search engine, but how much of this is truth? I'd imagine there's good money in convincing people they have privacy because then they'll provide more interesting data. Has the company ever been audited? Why should they be trusted to not compromise user privacy? Imo at least Google is honest: you kno…

If Duck really collects user data, the moment this is found out, they’re dead, so for that reason alone, they probably don’t do it. The alternative is that they’re betting everything on nobody ever finding out which sounds crazy.

> The alternative [..] sounds crazy

I also think that it is unlikely but, let's not forget that some unlikely things are regularly found to be true.

In 2019 many thought that a global pandemic was unlikely, in 2007 they thought that a housing market crash was unlikely, and so on.

Personally, I think an independent audit would go a long way in clearing up my doubts.

Re: DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites and YouTube-DL from Its Search Results

#167

Post by zodzedzi »

z3c0 wrote: post #150
zodzedzi wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see "Custom" allowing you to choose which elements (frame, fonts, etc.) to allow/block for the domain you're configuring. But it doesn't offer the ability to say "apply these settings to the domain example.com only when I'm visiting example.com, and not when I'm visiting anotherexample.com which happens to load JS from example.com".

Maybe I'm still misunderstanding, but when configuring the domain in the custom settings, it does allow you to limit the custom rules to only the site you're currently on, via the "Enable these capabilities when top page matches" dropdown. The default is "ANY SITE".

I don't see any of these options in my plugin. I have NoScript 10, and it looks like there is a NoScript 11 out there; is that what you have? Maybe the feature was introduced in 11 and I'm missing that update; checking their changelog now...

Edit: Correction - I do have NoScript 11; but don't see those options.

Re: DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites and YouTube-DL from Its Search Results

#170

Post by mastazi »

t0bia_s wrote: post #106
zagrebian wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Duck really collects user data, the moment this is found out, they’re dead, so for that reason alone, they probably don’t do it. The alternative is that they’re betting everything on nobody ever finding out which sounds crazy.

There are so many issues with DDG, but nobody cares [1]. Idea of having privacy focused search engine is strong. Then use kagi or searX. [1] https://lemmy.ml/post/31321

Can you provide a TL;DR of the article? I'm a DDG user but open to considering alternatives, never heard of kagi and tried searX a long time ago.

Currently, whenever DDG doesn't cut it, I add the !sp bang and get Google results through StartPage. I know that SP is owned by an advertising company but I still prefer them to straight up Google. I tried using searX to get proxied Google results but it required a few extra steps so I don't usually go for it.

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