DuckDuckGo Launches Redesigned Privacy Browser Extension and Mobile App With Anti-Tracking Features

[decafjava]

One nice feature (https://duck.co/help/features) is that you can include "!g" in a search and it will submit the search to Google instead. I do this a few times a day when any search on DuckDuckGo just seems to be coming up short on details. In many cases, DuckDuckGo exceeds my expectations and returns exactly the relevant results that I want with far less junk that Google or Bing.

Everyone complaining that DDG still isn't as effective for some searches as Google would do well to remember this..you can still use Google's search but avoid tracking and also the filter bubble (which everyone forgets).

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I have been using DuckDuckGo for several years as my primary search engine and I can say that it's great for the majority of my searches. One nice feature (https://duck.co/help/features) is that you can include "!g" in a search and it will submit the search to Google instead. I do this a few times a day when any search on DuckDuckGo just seems to be coming up short on details. In many cases, DuckDuckGo exceeds my expectations and returns exactly the relevant results that I want with far less junk that Google or Bing.

I do however, have really mixed feelings about this new DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials. What I have a problem with is that they should have known better than to force a complete extension replacement onto users through an update -- unannounced. REALLY DuckDuckGo! What an idiotic decision for a privacy company who's reputation is everything. For this reason alone, I'll be waiting a while for them to explain themselves before recommending this new extension to anyone. Such a decision really makes me wonder about their management's ability to make trustworthy decisions. In the meantime, configuring DuckDuckGo as the default search provider in Firefox without using an extension to do so is the way to go.

I may eventually recommend it to all of my less technically savvy colleagues and clients as it will likely be an easier to use extension than a combination of EFF HTTPS Everywhere, EFF Privacy Badger, and uBlock Origin. The combination of these multiple extensions is simply too much for that majority of users to use without "breaking" their interweb and social media experience. Hopefully DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials can fill the same niche in a single, easy to use extension.

For those that understand how the web works though, I'm not going to change my extension recipe for browsing bliss. In my opinion it's hard to beat the combination of EFF's HTTPS Everywhere, uMatrix (with JS blocked in global scope), and just configuring DuckDuckGo as the Default/only search provider. Although it certainly takes some initial configuration for each site, I find that this is the best winning combination for security, privacy, and ad-blocking that I can come up with.

So, how many of you will give "DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials" a try as a replacement for the extensions you currently use? If not, what is your current combination of extensions that you find to be the best-of-class for security, privacy, and ad-blocking?

I use a combination of Adblock Plus and Ghostery. I also use DDG for my search engine. I didn't know about the !g. That is pretty cool. Thanks!

 

[ateslik]

Everyone complaining that DDG still isn't as effective for some searches as Google would do well to remember this..you can still use Google's search but avoid tracking and also the filter bubble (which everyone forgets).

filter bubble?

 

[decafjava]

filter bubble?

https://spreadprivacy.com/filter-bubble/
https://spreadprivacy.com/filter-bubble/
https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles
https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...-bubble-that-protects-us-from-opposing-views/

 

[ateslik]

https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles

Wow, that TED talk seems incredibly prescient in hindsight, especially if you live in the US.

 

[Framlinghammac]

My daughter was concerned about the use of G-Suite & chromebook in her 7 year-old son's school and searched using Google "G-Suite Privacy". She did the same using DDG and top find was the EEF report on G Suite. This did not appear is the first few pages using Google. She wonder whether this was because the EEF report was year old or something more sinister.

 

[AmazingRobie]

Appreciate the site for stories like this one. I had never heard of this duckduckgo browser, but clearing the cache takes so many steps in chrome and this is just a button. It doesnt work on my 3rd gen ipad for some reason, very slow compared to chrome, but works fantastic on the mobile. Thanks.

 

[ignatius345]

It feels good not to be feeding Google's massive people-tracking machine.

The last big piece for me would be ditching Gmail. Having had the same address since Gmail launched (2004!), I'm reluctant to move.

 

[Bob Zimmerman]

The only issue I have with being a DDG user is that it really does swing and miss on some searches. If you keep to pretty common knowledge stuff (e.g. Super Bowl for example) it will do a-ok and find relevant information. Try something more obscure, and then you get old webpages, or things that simply have nothing to do what you typed in. So, while DDG is my primary, I have not entirely escaped the "Googleverse".

I have the opposite problem. I enter a four-word search term in quotes, and the first three entire pages of Google results contain maybe two of the words in the quoted string. I cannot stand using Google for anything remotely technical, because their search results are garbage.

 

[212rikanmofo]

100% DDG convert and absolutely love it. The design is gorgeous and you can customize the appearance of it. I am slowly but surely removing Google out of my life, the same with Facebook. It's the best move I've made.

Feels like I just quit smoking or something.

 

[Kabeyun]

The only issue I have with being a DDG user is that it really does swing and miss on some searches. If you keep to pretty common knowledge stuff (e.g. Super Bowl for example) it will do a-ok and find relevant information. Try something more obscure, and then you get old webpages, or things that simply have nothing to do what you typed in. So, while DDG is my primary, I have not entirely escaped the "Googleverse".

I have the same experience. When resigning myself to a Google search I still use the DDG window, following the term with !g.

 

[Weaselboy]

When resigning myself to a Google search I still use the DDG window, following the term with !g.

I am also primarily using DDG now, but for the rare occasion I need to search Google, I've been using Startpage. It gives you Google search results without all the tracking.

https://www.startpage.com/

 

[spacemnspiff]

I am also primarily using DDG now, but for the rare occasion I need to search Google, I've been using Startpage. It gives you Google search results without all the tracking.

https://www.startpage.com/

Thanks for posting this, I will give this a try.

 

[Kabeyun]

I am also primarily using DDG now, but for the rare occasion I need to search Google, I've been using Startpage. It gives you Google search results without all the tracking.

https://www.startpage.com/

I’ll check it out, thx.