Enhance Your Privacy with DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo made its debut as a search engine focused on privacy by reducing tracking cookies and pop-up ads. As our privacy is increasingly at risk, DuckDuckGo has rolled out several more products including a browser extension, a web browser, an app, and email aliases. To reduce your privacy erosion, check out some of the DuckDuckGo options.
Search Engine
DuckDuckGo started as a private search engine. Instead of using Google, Bing, Yahoo! or another search engine, you can go to https://duckduckgo.com/ and type in your search terms. The difference between it and others? They don’t store your personal information, like search history. They don’t use cookies and trackers to sell to advertisers. Your location stays private. To search for a business near you, enable location or set manually.
You can control the search engine in settings, including how videos play. Videos that appear on a page and begin playing in thumbnail can annoy, and leak information to other sites like YouTube. You can play videos within DuckDuckGo to reduce privacy erosion.
Like other search engines, results show you a page title, date, and description. You can search for web results or restrict results to images, videos, news, maps, shopping and more. You can also restrict results by region and date range. What is missing from the results? A lot of ads and paid placement! DuckDuckGo also has “bang” shortcuts. Type in ! plus a shortcode. For example, if you want to search LII (Cornell’s Legal Information Institute) type !lii and your search term (!lii habeas corpus). Or search RECAP by typing !recap. Here is a list of legal sites submitted to the system.
Browser Extension
If you use Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, or Firefox you are aware that there are pluses and minuses. These internet browsers are free because they are selling ads and tracking your behavior. To continue to use these browsers but take back privacy you can try the DuckDuckGo browser extension. The extension blocks tracking cookies, 3rd party tracker loading protection, adds CNAME cloaking, smarter HTTPS encryption, and more. It also removes social media tracking codes. To add the browser extension in your browser of choice, go to the settings and find extensions, then search for DuckDuckGo. Be aware that you may have to take steps to enable it, as these browsers want to track you.
Another perk of the browser extension and using DuckDuckGo is private email (BETA). You can create a private email address forwarded to your personal email address without all the tracking links. Or you can randomly use an anonymous email if you don’t want to expose your email address. With the browser extension enabled when you go to sign up for a service, download a whitepaper, or submit your email address you can fill in with your @duck.com private email or a randomly generated anonymous email. You can get started here.
Apps
DuckDuckGo has apps for Android and iOS. The app has private search, email protection, encryption, and the “Fire Button” that wipes away tabs and browsing data with one tap. If you enable App Tracking Protection (in BETA) you can block hidden trackers in your smartphone’s installed apps and turn on a VPN to add further anonymity and protection for online interactions from your smartphone or tablet.
Browser
DuckDuckGo has recently rolled out its own web browser for Windows and Macs. You get secure search, reduced tracking, the “flame button” to clear tabs and website data, true In Private browsing, email protections, and more. For example, you can go into your settings and “fireproof” a website. That means that while you may delete tabs, history, cookies and tracking by clicking on the “flame button”, if you keep some of the personalization on some websites you can “protect” them from the purge by making them fireproof.
If you install the DuckDuckGo browser, you can import bookmarks and passwords from other browsers and password management tools. The browser can manage cookie content popups and turn on Global Privacy Control to have DuckDuckGo signal a preference for privacy.
Conclusion
If you have ever thought you are seeing ads for something you simply thought about getting but never searched for it or mentioned it, you are seeing the results of being tracked by websites and devices all the time until they can predict behavior. DuckDuckGo makes money by selling ads based on keywords (see car ads when you search for cars), but not based on tracking your behavior. DuckDuckGo has several tools that are free to use, open source, and can help you reduce the unintended consequences of every aspect of your behaviors being bought and sold.