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DuckDuckGo Launches 3-in-1 'Privacy Pro' Subscription With VPN and Personal Data Removal Tool

AlmightyKang said:
I still have no idea why people think their privacy is covered by a VPN. Literally the majority of the tracking and telemetry is at the application layer which shoots straight through the VPN and is easy to correlate with who you are.

Also I have issues with their personal data removal thing. You can't identify personal data easily, you can only use heuristic analysis and rules to find stuff you are aware of and remove it. It is not foolproof, so this is not privacy. Much like a sieve, the only viable approach is to not put anything in the sieve but they're selling a way to block up some of the holes.

Big no.
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It hides your traffic from your ISP and a good VPN will have no logging so your browsing activity cannot be traced. That's the only privacy a VPN offers.

I only tend to use a VPN when connected to hotel/public Wi-Fi (or downloading a film via torrent) and VPN's are becoming less useful with some websites not even working with a VPN these days. OneDrive is very fussy and won't even open via the web with a large bunch of VPN IP addresses that Microsoft has blacklisted. Some apps on my phone won't work anymore using a VPN either. I presume a lot of people have abused certain apps using a VPN service so they just end up getting blocked.
 
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Steve121178 said:
It hides your traffic from your ISP and a good VPN will have no logging so your browsing activity cannot be traced. That's the only privacy a VPN offers.

I only tend to use a VPN when connected to hotel/public Wi-Fi (or downloading a film via torrent) and VPN's are becoming less useful with some websites not even working with a VPN these days. OneDrive is very fussy and won't even open via the web with a large bunch of VPN IP addresses that Microsoft has blacklisted. Some apps on my phone won't work anymore using a VPN either. I presume a lot of people have abused certain apps using a VPN service so they just end up getting blocked.
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Indeed. There are numerous net block reputation services out there. It is diligent to not trust any of those because they are used to attack SSO/login processes and take over accounts.

We block them all at work for the same reason.
 
Need to be careful about data removal services. Firefox had to back out of its deal since the owner of the company it selected also owned multiple data collection companies.
 
rodriguise said:
DDG results tend to be severely inferior to Google at times.
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So much this. I want to like DDG, and set it as my default search once or twice a year to see if it's gotten any better. But it hasn't. And with a heavy heart I always revert back to the big G.
 
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I'm done with the internet. I'm going back to packet radio, slow scan TV, and even re-learning Morse code. I don't need a subscription for any of that.
 
AlmightyKang said:
Indeed. There are numerous net block reputation services out there. It is diligent to not trust any of those because they are used to attack SSO/login processes and take over accounts.

We block them all at work for the same reason.
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I would love to see a more expanded description of what you were talking about in your reply. My curiosity is larger than my knowledge in these matters, and I would like to hear more. Maybe you could give link to where one could go to learn more?
 
FellaMeLad said:
Good plan. Last year I started using McAfee on my home computers/iPhone/iPad, etc.

Was pleasantly surprised as it’s nowhere near as bad as I remember from my first experiences with it 10 years or so ago! It includes a VPN as well as all of the identity protection services, which I also signed up for. It did find a *ton* of my personal info on multiple data broker sites and was able to get them removed.

So…. so far, so good. And I’ll continue using it… for now!
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For some reason, reading your comment about McAfee reminded me of this:

Bath salts and booty: watch a drug-fueled John McAfee uninstall his antivirus software

The Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts.
www.theverge.com

I find it really hard to believe I watched this when I was 13, lol.
 
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Privacy and security regulations in the US (including government overreach) is still going to hobble how much real protection DDG (based there) can offer. Not sure that's worth $10 a month.
Meanwhile - for what it's worth - I use Startpage as my Search engine, as it's based in the EU, where consumer protection, privacy and security online is taken care more seriously.
 
klspahr said:
I would love to see a more expanded description of what you were talking about in your reply. My curiosity is larger than my knowledge in these matters, and I would like to hear more. Maybe you could give link to where one could go to learn more?
Click to expand...

People run software through VPNs to brute force Microsoft and Apple accounts so it hides the origin of the attack. Thus Microsoft block these attempts. That's about it.
 
If one uses DDG as the preferred search on Safari and has Private Relay, what privacy value-added does the DDG VPN (or any VPN) provide?
 
I use DuckDuckGo for search and I have downloaded their browser, but I would tend to trust Firefox for privacy. They have a competing set of products and they seem to do much better at securing funds and not falling victim to agreements that put privacy at risk.
 
AlmightyKang said:
I still have no idea why people think their privacy is covered by a VPN. Literally the majority of the tracking and telemetry is at the application layer which shoots straight through the VPN and is easy to correlate with who you are.

Also I have issues with their personal data removal thing. You can't identify personal data easily, you can only use heuristic analysis and rules to find stuff you are aware of and remove it. It is not foolproof, so this is not privacy. Much like a sieve, the only viable approach is to not put anything in the sieve but they're selling a way to block up some of the holes.

Big no.
Click to expand...
Quoting a former Google engineer when chatting at a conference... "If you've written a check, paid by CC, placed any online order, or otherwise surfed the net for online shopping since the mid 90's.... you are in the system. If you think you are not being profiled, you are being fooled either by someone marketing a product, or by yourself." This so-called "erasing" of your habits, routine, history, fill in the blank panic trigger word... you simply are not understanding how profiles on people are built. The political world and the online marketing world have mastered this over the years.
 
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Dj64Mk7 said:
For some reason, reading your comment about McAfee reminded me of this:


I find it really hard to believe I watched this when I was 13, lol.
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Hahahaha yes! I remember this. That video was wild! :)

Shame how he ended up…
 
FellaMeLad said:
Hahahaha yes! I remember this. That video was wild! :)

Shame how he ended up…
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Still, I can’t wrap my head around having watched it when I was 13! xD

In looking for that link, I saw something about how he died recently? Is that what you’re referring to?
 
Dj64Mk7 said:
Still, I can’t wrap my head around having watched it when I was 13! xD

In looking for that link, I saw something about how he died recently? Is that what you’re referring to?
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Correct. He turned into some fugitive and was accused of murder and allsorts. Someone really needs to make a film about him!
 
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