The Citizen Updates: DuckDuckGo

The Citizen Updates: DuckDuckGo

The Paoli-based search engine—whose founder, Gabriel Weinberg, testified earlier Congress this month— never has and never will track your data. Amen.

Mar. 25, 2019

DuckDuckGo has been having a busy calendar month: Showtime, on March 13th, its founder Gabriel Weinberg testified before Congress, urging them to pass legislation that would limit tech companies' ability to rail users information—something his visitor has never done. " In many means, I come up to you from the future," Weinberg said. "Our privacy policy is straightforward and doesn't require a law degree to decipher: We simply do not collect or share whatever personal information at all."

And so, last week, came the proclamation that Google was adding DuckDuckGo to its option of default search engines in sixty markets—including the U.S.—potentially giving a boost to the Paoli-based visitor that right at present accounts for 1 per centum of the Net searches in America.

The Citizen wrote about DuckDuckGo in 2015, shortly before Weinberg published his book Traction: How Whatever Startup Can Accomplish Explosive Growth . Since then, his own startup has achieved but that, going from viii million queries a day to 36 million. As online privacy—and the egregious, seemingly ubiquitous alienation of information technology—continues to get a bigger hot-push issue than ever, what meliorate time to check in with Weinberg, arguably one of the globe'due south foremost online privacy problem-solvers.

JP: Online privacy issues feel overly complicated—tin you explain for those of us without your two degrees from MIT what DuckDuckGo is and does?

GW: And then, people desire to be tracked less online, for a lot of reasons—identity theft, creepy ads, discrimination. What we are trying to practise is provide this simple solution for how to get people to protect themselves. The internet shouldn't be creepy, and privacy should be as piece of cake as closing your blinds. We provide the tools and technology to [make it] so.

JP: What are those tools?

GW: We've been writing a not-tracking alternative to Google for a decade. And since we spoke to The Citizen, nosotros've expanded our services to include blocking Google and Facebook and other trackers that lurk on the websites you visit as you browse the spider web. Nosotros likewise have an encryption bundle which makes sure you get to the encrypted version of a site when one exists. We crawl the web and have a huge list of most vi meg websites [that offer] two versions, and we brand sure you lot're always going to the encrypted one.

JP: Which matters considering…?

GW: If you lot're not on the encrypted version, the company you're visiting could take your browsing history. People are surprised to learn how many trackers are lurking on websites. Google is on 80 percent of the top 1 one thousand thousand websites, and Facebook is on about 25 percent. Basically if you become to whatever site, there's often like ten trackers sitting at that place.

Another surprise to a lot of people is the location-tracking history in apps. Have weather: Almost people pull conditions upwardly on their phone, and when you install it, information technology asks if y'all want to share your location; you say 'I'll exercise that,' because you need to get local conditions. Simply a lot of the fine impress says that we're also tracking your location everywhere else yous go through the entire mean solar day—not simply when you're using that app—and so selling that information to a bunch of third parties, including hedge funds and all sorts of advertizing companies. And that's definitely non the user expectation.

Another thing people do is apply 'private browsing' or enable the 'do non track' style, thinking it will protect their privacy or that it makes them anonymous. And that's just non true. All information technology does is delete the information from your reckoner, simply it doesn't stop any of the sites yous visit from tracking you any less.

People are surprised to larn how many trackers are lurking on websites. Google is on lxxx percent of the acme 1 meg websites, and Facebook is on about 25 percent. Basically if y'all get to any site, in that location's often similar ten trackers sitting at that place.

JP: Short of hiding nether your bed and throwing your computer out the window, what other steps can people take to protect their privacy?

GW: Well, if y'all sign in to Chrome and plough on the sync characteristic, which they really try to encourage people to do, and then [know that] they're sending your browser history directly to Google. My best advice is don't turn on Google's Chrome sync feature.

JP: Would yous ever commencement an email service, to avert the tracking that tin can come with certain e-mail providers?

GW: It is something nosotros may exercise at some signal in the future, but information technology's non on the horizon. At that place are some decent alternatives out there. ProtonMail is a proficient instance of a more private e-mail alternative.

JP: To become the total do good of DuckDuckGo, do users need to pay, or exercise whatsoever kind of complicated downloads?

GW: Yous tin can install the DuckDuckGo extension [service] on all of your devices for free. They're uniform with all browsers, and piece of cake to install. And doing so volition actually speed upwards your connectedness, peculiarly on mobile, because no information is wasted on tracking your history.

People retrieve of privacy protection as a huge sacrifice, and it doesn't have to be the case. Information technology's almost like a no-brainer proposition. You tin get less tracking and withal have skilful search results and a adept spider web experience.

JP: How does DuckDuckGo make coin if information technology's non charging users?

GW: We brand money through advertising—but non behavioral ad, which is advertising that follows you around, all those creepy ads. We practise contextual advertising, which is just based on the content of the page you're on. And then when yous search for a car, we can just evidence you lot a machine advertizing, not based on annihilation to exercise with you, only based on what you lot search.

JP: Are you spreading the word on social media—or are you opposed to social media, given privacy concerns?

GW: We accept been encouraging people to leave Facebook—I recollect that's something people should practice. I call back in that location are ways to eat social media that are healthier. I personally think you can construct Twitter in a good fashion because you lot can curate it. Now, there'southward apparently a lot of bad things that keep on Twitter too, only [I recollect it'south] a practiced manner to engage with people. Our Twitter has well-nigh 800,000 followers, and we put out a post every day about what's going on in the privacy landscape.

JP: From the beginning, your visitor has had a cheeky vibe—the proper noun, the duck logo, the billboard advertizement you famously did along the road to Google HQ. What'south the next bit of quirk people can expect from DuckDuckGo?

GW: The mobile version of DuckDuckGo is a browser, and it has an additional feature that's kind of fun, where there's ane tap to clear all your tabs and information on the device. Nosotros call it the burn push: Information technology looks like it'south on fire and then information technology burns everything.

JP: How gratifying. The last time we checked in, you were about to release your book Traction: How Whatsoever Startup Can Accomplish Explosive Growth. Whatever plans for another book?

GW: On June eighteen thursday my next book, Super Thinking : The Big Book of Mental Models , will be out. The idea is at that place are all these concepts that y'all probably should've learned in school—simply are never taught—to help yous think better and make ameliorate decisions. It'southward a compendium of all of them—there are like 300 woven together into nine narrative capacity. And then that'due south what all my extra time has gone to.

JP: I'll pre-order it at present. Anything else you want to add?

GW: People call up of privacy protection as a huge cede, and information technology doesn't have to be the case. It'south almost like a no-brainer proffer. You can become less tracking and all the same have good search results and a skilful web experience.

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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/the-citizen-updates-duckduckgo/

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