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

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221–230 of 233 posts

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

#221

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…

> that is http://qwant.com Plenty of pictures and distracting news on the front page.

You should rather try the lite version:

https://lite.qwant.com

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

#222
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO there is a privacy loss to you. Amazon should not get to know what search engine you use.

That's fair, but the Referrer header already does that. It can be blocked, true, but either way this is just a single literal bit of data - I don't mind, but I see how someone might. An argument could also be made, that this is beneficial to me, as if Amazon finds a lot of traffic from DDG, they might be more inclined to buy ad space with them, giving better funding to a service I like.

The HTTP Referer header is a horrible bug that should never have been part of the web IMO. When I tell laypeople that this happens they're often very surprised.

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

#223

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…

Qwant use Bing for 64% of is search.

https://m.nextinpact.com/brief/en-septembre-2019--les-result...

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

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually when people have this concern, it's because the page they are looking for does not exist . I'd like to see examples where you do a search looking for a specific page, either with or without verbatim or double-quotes, and then find it via some other query. Sure, it happens, but it's very rare.

Would this count? https://www.google.com/search?q=%22vulnerable+over+and+over+... The page it is taken from is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22032966 It is clearly indexed as it shows up in this search: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-m&biw=414&bih...

I think it shows up now?

Yes - I think you've hit a case where fresh content isn't indexed for phrases only keywords. That latter indexing usually takes a few hours, depending on which data center you hit and load.

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

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would this count? https://www.google.com/search?q=%22vulnerable+over+and+over+... The page it is taken from is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22032966 It is clearly indexed as it shows up in this search: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-m&biw=414&bih...

I think it shows up now? Yes - I think you've hit a case where fresh content isn't indexed for phrases only keywords. That latter indexing usually takes a few hours, depending on which data center you hit and load.

Ok. It shows up now and your explanation is reasonable. Thanks!

I don't have more examples right now.

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

#226
post #161
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

It's also duck.com :)

Woah I didn't know they got that back from Google! Google was the owner of duck.com for years

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

#227
post #210
post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the status with YaCy like these days? I tried installing it about 7 years ago and the results left something to be desired.

It is still far from being actually useful afaik. We need much more people involved I guess.

Apart from people, what are the main challenges to get to a stage where it is usable? My guess is that maintaining large indices is nontrivial in multiple aspects.

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

#228

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…

Ecosia is from what I can tell a frontend for Bing. That is again a US-based solution, even if their veneer is from somewhere else (is it? I can't find it easily).

As for Qwant, it says it's based in France but I know nothing about it.

Just from the face of it, it's not clear that these solutions are better (Qwant is a maybe and Ecosia is a definitely not). This ambiguity coupled with their relatively unknown nature could be one reason why the EU did what it has done.

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

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Startpage was acquired by an adtech company a few months ago https://www.ghacks.net/2019/11/16/startpage-search-owner-cha...

Yes i'm aware of that, but they were not 'acquired'... although it's definitely not a good development, i'd argue Startpage is still better (privacy wise) than for example Google.

> i'd argue Startpage is still better

Why would you argue this? Adtech companies are one of the big sources of problems with privacy online.

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

#230

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…

> a search engine that deserves our preference ... because it is built and hosted in Europe Why not the opposite? It is easier for the government to seize your data if the service is under their jurisdiction.

> Why not the opposite

Companies that are US-based can be depended upon to leak like a sieve with very little prompting. Given that, the EU option is the smart option. In the EU, there is at least a modicum of accountability and some expectation in the law (in theory but more importantly in practice) that people are respected and left alone.

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