DuckDuckGo: A Search Engine For Privacy

Last week, a reader suggested the DuckDuckGo.com search engine. Like most people, through the years I used a variety of search engines: first Yahoo, then Alta Vista, Google, and most recently Bing. DuckDuckGo has a very simple, easy-to-read privacy policy:

"DuckDuckGo does not collect or share personal information. That is our privacy policy in a nutshell..."

The DuckDuckGo privacy policy also explains why you should care about what other search engines do:

"... when you search for something private, you are sharing that private search not only with your search engine, but also with all the sites that you clicked on (for that search). In addition, when you visit any site, your computer automatically sends information about it to that site..."

Other search engines collect your search terms. And, the list of information your computer sends to them includes its operating system brand and version, screen size and resolution, your ISP, and your IP address. And that information may also be shared with affiliates or partner companies. DuckDuckGo.com doesn't do any of this.

ConsumerSearch lists the advantages and disadvantages of DuckDuckGo. In March 2012, PCWorld said:

"...[DuckDuckGo]t also doesn't track users: no personal information is collected, shared, or used to customize individual users' search results. So, anyone searching on a particular term in DuckDuckGo will get the same results... DuckDuckGo also offers benefits including the capability to use shortcuts to directly search many websites..."

And, there are DuckDuckGo mobile apps.

I ran several searches to see what DuckDuckGo retrieves. Its search results don't seem to missing any pages other search engines deliver. Besides the privacy benefits, I like the cleanness and lack of clutter at DuckDuckGo. A long time ago, the Google search engine used to be this way.

To learn more about DuckDuckGo.com, read about how it does not track your online usage. And, read this page about the Filter Bubble. Then, decide for yourself.

If you use DuckDuckGo, what's your opinion or experience with it?

Comments

[Larry]

I have been using startpage.com for some time now

[George]

Larry:
Thanks for the search engine suggestion. I have not used it, but will try it.

George
Editor
http://ivebeenmugged.typepad.com

[Anon]

DuckDuckGo is the greatest. I've been using it for years, now. However, I have just been seduced by Ixquick, out of the Netherlands, that has many of the great features of the long-gone Alta Vista, searching via numerous search engines, and has been awarded the European Privacy Seal by the EU. Third-party certified, yet! https://www.ixquick.com/eng/protect-privacy.html