By comparison, Google&#x27;s parent Alphabet has revenues of close $240 billion. During a congressional testimony last year, Weinberg confirmed that much of <strong>DuckDuckGo</strong>&#x27;s search capability originated with Microsoft&#x27;s Bing search engine and was not homegrown.

Huge Microsoft outage takes down Bing.com, DuckDuckGo and ChatGPT for thousands of users | Daily Mail Online

For instance, <strong>DuckDuckGo</strong> and Ecosia, two alternative search engines that rely on Bing’s search results, weren’t returning any search results. Microsoft Copilot wasn’t loading either. ChatGPT Plus subscribers, who have the ability to perform web searches, also got an error when they tried ...

Bing’s API was down, taking Microsoft Copilot, DuckDuckGo and ChatGPT's web search feature down too | TechCrunch

DuckDuckGo

duckduckgo

An Analyst suggested that should Apple buy DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused search engine. Although, Apple most likely won’t buy DuckDuckGo, it might still be interested in creating a search engine. About a week earlier analyst Toni Sacconaghi put forward a recommendation for Apple. He believes Apple can buy DuckDuckGo, a privacy centred search engine and make it the default search engine in all Apple devices. Thus finally ending its business with Google, which currently pays $7-8B to Apple to remain the same. That analyst says so because both Apple and are super privacy-focused companies. DuckDuckGo Note: DuckDuckGo is hereafter referred to as DDG because it’s too long to type. You might not know about DuckDuckGo. And that’s fairly normal. Because DDG receives about 62 million queries a day. That’s huge but not even close to Google’s numbers (3.5 billion). Number of daily searches on four top search engines. What is DuckDuckGo? A search engine that began in a basement in 2008. Their aim was to serve a better search engine and in 2010 they set their unique selling point: they won’t track users. Because Google does. Since then the company has grown immensely. Currently, they rank #4 in the list of top search engines. They also donate yearly to internet freedom foundations like the Tor Project, and SecureDrop. DuckDuckGo advertisings. // Source: Wired I won’t say DDG is as good as Google. Mainly because it has just 93 employees. But when you change the scale to privacy, there’s no better option than DDG. Even the Tor browser, which is a really privacy-focused browser has DDG as it’s a default search engine. So there are areas where DDG isn’t as good and there are also areas where there’s no better option. Coming back to the story, people have kinda mixed opinion on whether or not Apple should buy DDG. Let’s get to them one by one. This will undermine a major aspect of DDG While some say DuckDuckGo can be a good addition to Apple’s privacy promise, saying, “One of DuckDuckGo’s biggest and most important aspect is that no one big is pulling the strings. This would certainly undermine that.” some disagree Well, that’s true. There’s no big company that funds DDG. And since they’re just 93 employees, they cover up all costs. They don’t require outside funding. They don’t need to think twice before tweaking the search algorithm for better privacy services even if any big tech company doesn’t like that. But if Apple buys it, Apple will obviously prioritise its business first. This isn’t the best time to make enemies with Google Apple doesn’t seem to be in any mood to take up a rivalry with Google especially in these times. Because the two tech giants have been absurdly friendly. The joined hands in launching the contact tracing system. And Google CEO Sundar Pichai said he’d be interested in working in future projects with Apple. Now in these times, Google won’t take it nicely if Apple heats up the competition in their space. Google’s slowly getting into Apple’s business. It might be time to retreat. See, Apple mostly deals with phones, computers, smartwatches, smart speakers, wireless headphones to name a few. And previously, Google has also entered into these spaces. They have their Pixels series competing with the iPhones, the Chromebooks competing with MacBooks, the Google Watch OS competing with Apple watch. Just to name a few. So it might be Apple’s turn to invade Google. I just hope that goes well. Because Google currently has an unbeatable dominance in the space. But conversely, this is also a reason why Apple might consider heading into the search business. Apple’s public image will improve Apple does a great job making people believe that Apple products mean privacy guaranteed. Apple has undoubtedly been successful in forming a great public image. With billboards and signs all over, CEO Tim Cook proudly says “We at Apple believe that privacy is a fundamental human right.” “My investigation suggests otherwise.” Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post Everyone except experts believes it’s true while it isn’t. Even when Google pays Apple to be the default search engine, Google does track a lot of data and uses it to display ads. Geoffrey A. Fowler from notes that midnight his iPhone is sending data to several companies he’s never heard of. The Washington Post So experts quite disagree on the fact that Apple is privacy-friendly. But it’s made its public image says the quite opposite. It has some degrees of privacy protections but not full proof system. very Buying DDG will only enhance this image. DDG isn’t Google-level smart DuckDuckGo is partly based on Microsoft’s Bing. And it’s not so smart. I mean using DDG is like compromising on speed and ease of use, to get privacy. And currently, it isn’t as good a tradeoff. DuckDuckGo doesn’t always show the result you want. Even if you specify the site name. While Google does it best. That means many users might still want to switch back to Google and Apple can’t deny them. The most it can do is to hide the options deep in settings. But if that happens, the internet and Google itself will show them how to do it. And Apple’s image will get down too. Now, in case, Apple involves its own team to improve DuckDuckGo, they will surely not call it DDG instead it might be an addition to Siri. If Apple wanted its own Search Engines, It’d have made it from the scratch On a broad scale, there’s nothing much Apple will get even if it buys DDG. DDG can definitely not compete with Google with its bad algorithm (still better than Siri, though.) and Apple will have to make it from scratch. Further, Apple, historically, prefers to make something rather than buying it. So why waste money in DDG? Instead, Apple can make it’s own search engines. A privacy-focused one. Maybe an Ad-free one. But there are still some problems. Because something similar has happened with Google before. And Google knows how to retaliate. How will Google React If This Happens? Let’s take a moment and go back to 2006 when Google used to be the default search engine of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, one of the biggest sources of traffic for Google then. And then Microsoft dropped a bomb on Google, launching Bing and making it the default search engine of the Internet Explorer. Startled, Google tried to find ways to get out of this situation. And then one Google employee finally came up with a brilliant idea. He convinced CEO Larry Page and launched what he called the Google Toolbar. The Google Toolbar for the Internet Explorer // Source: The Way Back Machine He convinced a lot of manufacturers to pre-install this toolbar on their computers and thus Google regained the traffic it was losing. It was just a temporary solution though. he convinced the CEOs to allow him to lead a project in making a browser. The world’s most used browser today, Google Chrome. This employee is Sundar Pichai, the current CEO of Google and Alphabet. Back to our main story, this means even if Apple makes a new search engine or buys DDG, Google will come up with creative ways to get people back. Maybe a few million bucks in advertising to teach Apple users how they can set Google back as default will help them regain one of their major sources of traffic which earns them over $15B. And not to forget, they won’t also have to pay Apple $8B now. So this sums up to be $23B. And folks at Apple aren’t stupid that they’d let this happen. Just One More Thing… While writing this, another thought struck me and I want to share it. See, Google pays Apple to be its default search engine because Apple has other options. But if Google later changes its mind, Apple will be left with just two options: either let users use a shitty search engine like Bing or let Google be the default without getting paid. If they choose the latter option, Google will stop paying it to be the default option forever. And if they choose the first option, Apple devices users will have a bad experience. Both cases, there’s Apple’s loss. So, possibly, Apple might consider stepping into the search engine game. So if Google refuses to pay Apple, it can immediately use its own engine. And considering that recent services from Apple have been subscription-based, Apple can make this search engine an optional subscription that allows Apple users to pay a fee and use a search engine that doesn’t track you, is ad-free and results are great. The first two benefits are easy, all depends upon the third one. BTW would you like to pay like $5/$10 a month for such a search engine? This article was published as a part of Theciva's Opinion-Driven series . Sign up for the free newsletter.

Should Apple Buy DuckDuckGo? Or Create Its Own Search Engine? 

There’s no denying that we are years away from seeing any other search engine take over Google. Yes, it has grown thaaaaat big and has left us so dependent on itself that it just can’t happen so quick. Google tracks almost all your activities through your smart devices — especially so in the case of Android devices. The places you visit, the steps you walk, the time you spend on each website, the searches you make, the products you click on and so on. If you are using Google devices and/or its products, Google is behind you. Everywhere. All the time. (If you’re wondering, yes, Google knows exactly what you watched the last night and the night before it and throughout the year) Why is this important for you to know? Tell me, why not? It’s your data. You don’t share it with your girlfriend, why’d you share it with anyone else? On the Google search engine part, the impact of tracking data (searches/activity) reflects in the biased search suggestions and results that you see when you search a keyword on Google. So, basically, Google bombards you with information that it “ ” aligns with your prior activities. thinks This is where comes in. It is a search engine designed to treat you like an anonymous user every time you use it. Simply put: it does not track you or your activity. DuckDuckGo This means that everything you search through DuckDuckGo stays between you and the browser only. DuckDukcGo‘s motto? Simplifying privacy in the age of the internet and “setting the new standard of trust online.” DuckDuckGo/About These snapshots speak for themselves If you wish to verify any of this, just follow steps one to three on both the search engines. Open your incognito tab and go to Google.com Search for any keyword. I searched for “ content writer. ” Once the search result comes up, type different words and notice what Google suggests. I typed ‘what is’, ‘how ’, ‘website’. And that was it. Google knew what I might be interested in next. Snapshot Google Snapshot Google Snapshot Google Repeat the same with . And here are the results. DuckDuckGo On the other hand, when you use DuckDuckGo, it shows you a completely unique suggestion that hardly has any correlation with your previous searches. Snapshot DuckDuckGo Snapshot DuckDuckGo Snapshot DuckDuckGo Now, I guess, it’s more clear to you. DuckDuckGo has come a long way Despite being nowhere close to the search giant — Google — DuckDuckGo is growing faster than anticipated. With an average growth of 50% each year, the search engine is putting up a remarkable show on the stage. From its commencement in 2008 to date, DuckDuckGo has scaled from 79,839 average daily searches to a grand 33,964,034 average daily search in the first 20 days of 2019. Here’s what the graph looks like for DDG’s commendable growth: DuckDuckGo Traffic How Close is that to Google? Whether you talk in terms of the number of searches or in total revenue, DuckDuckGo is but a “little something” when compared to Google. Here’s a simple comparison for you: What DuckDuckGo does in a day, Google does it within ~12.5 minutes. Yes, that’s ~33 million searches every 12.5 minutes on Google. That’s and 3.5 billion searches every day 1.2 TRILLLLLLLION searches every year. It can be said that DuckDuckGo is not a competitor of Google, but of course, a worthy rival Also, you shouldn’t forget, it’s almost 10 years younger to Google. With 50% growth each year and people becoming more and more aware of data privacy, things might change for DuckDuckGo in the future. At least I’d expect it to. Using Both Their Features to My Benefit While DuckDuckGo wants Google completely gone, I hold a different opinion. I want both of them to be. *that’s like a true consumer* And it’s simply because of the benefits I reap from both of them. I’d be wrong to say that I’d not been a beneficiary of the filtered search suggestions and result that Google displays, and also of its other eminent features. But the fact that Google displays results based on my location and search history and that there’s no choice of shutting it down sometimes — bugs me off. all the time — This makes for the one and only reason why I’ve switched to DuckDuckGo. Being a content writer, I have to conduct a lot of research on various different topics. And for this, I need to rely on unfiltered results and not just the ones that are most relevant in my location. DuckDuckGo is also quite helpful when searching for potential freelancing clients from across the globe as it doesn’t filter anything w.r.t where I live. Doing the same would be next to impossible if I try it on Google. It’ll keep throwing at me what’s “nearest” (no matter how irrelevant) to me. And that’s a truckload of garbage to deal with. Then there are also times when you just open your search engine to explore new stuff. DDG comes quite handy for that as well. It curates the most trending keywords from across the globe that match the word or phrase you type. In the case of Google, it would be that same old crap you’ve already been through 10s of times. In one sentence, DuckDuckGo is what you’d like to go for when you need . unfiltered, unbiased results There are many instances when Google feels like a blessing. Especially because of its . on-search-page features Suppose you search for “ ”, Google automatically brings up a dictionary on the search page itself. So, you do not have to open and navigate to any other tab. dictionary Snapshot Google And this is just great. Google has also mastered the art of aesthetically organising and presenting information to its users in case it’s needed for the searched keyword. For example, here’s what it showed me when I searched for the keyword “ ”, Cricket Snapshot Google That’s the schedule of the most recent cricket matches. Can it get any more organized? Also, if I want to search for some local information, there’s nothing that can beat Google for that. And well, we know exactly ‘how’, Google. We know it. In conclusion, I’d say that for me, personally, it is actually about choosing wisely between the two search engines according to what I need to know. Let me know in the comments which browser you use and what you like or dislike about it? Mohammad is an established technical, B2B, and B2C writer in the blockchain and cryptocurrency niche. For enquiries, you can visit or email him at contact[at]mohammadmusharraf[dot]com https://www.mohammadmusharraf.com

DuckDuckGo Vs. Google: What You Need to Know

DuckDuckGo’s Unique Features

For whatever reason, you decide to get away from Google (and big tech) these are what you will need : easy to use operating system. install anywhere and not worry about licenses and drivers etc Ubuntu : browser based on chromium Brave : the leading open source Word alternative LibreOffice : search engine. currently comprises of around .5% of the worlds search volume DuckDuckGo : whatsapp replacement. great for calls Telegram or Signal : German/Swiss email provider of your choice (Proton, Tutanota, GMX etc) Email Host : Desktop email and calendar client Thunderbird : social media mewe : for businesses management Nextcloud :  Google Maps Alternative for desktop or mobile OpenStreetMaps instead of youtube LBRY Let us take a quick dive into how each of these works. Ubuntu: First we have to look at the base operating system. If you don't want Apple or Microsoft tracking you need to go Linux. Ubuntu and its derivatives is the most popular and stable Linux flavour that you can install on your PC. Ubuntu Touch is also available for smartphones. You could buy a $200 PinePhone or install it on many android that you already have. Ubuntu touch isn't 100% production ready so please check the following before trying to use it as a daily driver. Click on a device from their website to see which functions currently work. Check out if the has what you need and could run some basic android apps. devices app store Anbox de-googled android: If you don't want to give up your android device you can install a stock android without play services and download apps with pureapk. This is a more stable system then the current Ubuntu Touch operating system. First you need to root your phone and install. Many apps like Whatsapp and GoogleMeet won’t work out of the box. However you should know that many apps that won't install without Google Play Services will work fine in the browser on desktop mode. Brave: Browsers make money by either directing you to a search engine with ads or by targeted ads from the browsers itself. Brave utilizes a brilliant new way of having targeted advertising with collecting any user data. This works by having your browsing data stored locally from which it matches pre-downloaded ads to. The user can choose how many ads displayed per hour and receive crypto coin or choose to opt out of ads entirely. https://brave.com/intro-to-brave-ads/ Brave Search Engine may be the first completely independent, privacy respecting, real search engine DuckDuckGo DDG has been around for about two decades (only 10 years after Google). They're a search engine that simply does not utilize user data. Their search results partially come from its own crawlers and Microsoft Bing which also provides the ads. Their market share makes up somewhere between 1% and 0.5% of the global search engine queries. You could go with a metasearch engine but DDG is the closest to an organic search engine. Email Unfortunately there are no simple self-hosted email solutions. Trust me on this, it's not worth it unless you've successfully done it before. You are best off using a small email provider with a stable business model and integrity. GMX email hosting and thunderbird client make for a nice feature full free email suite. Thunderbird offers end-to-end-encryption so that your email host has no chance of reading your message. Some mail providers (like GMX) only support a browser addon for end-to-end-encrypted mail so use ProtonMail bridge if you want to use e2ee with Thunderbird. Other Desktop tools If you are used to using Microsoft tools like Word or Moviemaker you wont be disappointed using the free alternatives. LibreOffice, Gimp, Audacity, and KdenLive (video editing) are just some of the professional programs available natively on Linux. Most of the big Linux programs also work fine on Windows or Mac. Telegram & Signal These two programs are the new social communication apps of choice to replace Facebook's WhatsApp. The main difference Telegram and Signal is that Telegram is a business. Telegram intends to monetize with ads on large public channels and premium business features. They acknowledge what happened to Whatsapp (bought by Facebook and now sells your private data) and assure users of their privacy and integrity. The client apps are open source so it is easy to assess how Telegram is using your data. As a business, Telegram has grown much faster then Signal and therefore much more likely to be used by the people you know. Signal is an open-source platform which uses peer-to-peer technology for video and voice calls. Because it’s an organization there is no threat of anyone monetizing and changing the system. Their server infrastructure needs to be constantly funded by pro freedom foundation donations and loans. Many companies run their own Signal servers as a way ensuring security and quality service to private employee communications. It can make a difference choosing a client app, for example TELEports app hides your phone number on Telegram by default. Open Street Maps OSM is the best Google Maps alternative for navigation and mapping. I surprised by nice features such as tracking my bike ride without sharing any data. You will have to forgo Streetview, store hours and other specific map data. LBRY Is a peer-to-peer blockchain based video sharing platform that looks like Youtube. Odysee.com is one of the public facing websites you could view it on or you can use a desktop app. Among the downside you might face is: Although LBRY will takedown reported copyrighted and illegal material, YouTube uses AI to watch all videos and filter spam/inappropriate and copyrighted content. This is a tool that LBRY does not have. Also the SEC has launched a lawsuit against their crypto coin offering (considered securities) Mewe Mewe is the Social Network platform similar to Facebook. Wikipedia claims it is popular among conspiracy theorists, and anti-vaxxers. From my experience of 5 connections and 3 followers this is not true. Nextcloud A self hosted office suite that can do all your cloud needs. From file storage to video conferencing Nextcloud is built to replace Office365, Google-drive, zoom and much more. For IT pros For cloud hosting providers I find Linode to be the cheapest, non-political and feature full. There is plenty of authentication There are endless great tools that replace how Google integrates our systems such as pihole and syncthing. There are also great easy tools to hide your own Google footprint such as Wireguard VPN Conclusion Be warned it is an uphill battle avoiding your footprint on the largest corporations ever known to mankind. However monopolies are bad for everyone in the long run, and it up to us to fight it  not to feed it.

The Get Away From Google Guide

We know all the names of the big guys who can give us instant access to information, but with far-reaching data leaks and continued concerns about how our data is shared online, many people are looking for alternative search engines. Here is a primer on search engines and some alternatives you can use in 2020. What is a Search Engine? A engine is a program that searches for results in its database based on your particular search query and delivers results in the form of world wide web pages. Special to quickly cycle through billions of pages to deliver the results it deems most relevant to users. search algorithms are used by search engines Some of the biggest search engines include: Google Yahoo! AOL Bing Ask.com Why Use an Alternative Search Engine? The primary reason people want to use an alternative search engine is due to privacy concerns. According to this report, Google tracks everything you do online while you are signed into your Google account and sometimes even when you are not, including: Every search you perform Every location you go and how long you stay at your destination Every YouTube video you watch Additionally, consumers’ confidence in big tech companies like Google have waned in response to reports that they secretly share users’ . While Google has responded to these concerns by creating a privacy hub that lets users access the information collected on them, the steps to do this are often confusing and users may not know what they are giving permission to do or not do. Furthermore, when users take this action, they are presented with a pop-up message that says that Google will not function as well. private data with third-party advertisers For these reasons, users look to alternative search engines. Best Alternative Search Engines Here are some of the best alternative search engines to Google, Bing, and other big names: 1.     DuckDuckGo is the solution for people who want to protect their privacy while still getting access to information almost instantly. The site does not collect or store users’ personal information, according to its privacy policy. This gives users the peace of mind of knowing their personal information and browsing habits will remain private. Users appreciate the clean interface of this search engine since it is not inundated with many ads. DuckDuckGo 2.     Swisscows markets itself as a family-friendly search engine that also respects users’ privacy. It automatically blocks out violent and pornographic results. It does not collect, store, or track the data of its users. It uses semantics and AI to determine the context of your query and often yields accurate results to users’ questions. Swisscows 3.     StartPage offers a happy compromise between Google’s search ability and users’ privacy. It delivers the same answers as Google but does not track or store users’ data. According to its privacy policy, it strips unnecessary metadata from your query, including your IP address and other identifying information. The search query is then sent to and the search results are returned to you. It also helps to minimize the collection of cookies. It remembers your settings without compromising your privacy. StartPage Google 4.     Search Encrypt does just that – it searches while encrypting your data. Local encryption helps to block your identifiable information so that you are not tracked. Rather than giving you results based on your search history, the program works by giving you results from its network of search partners. Additionally, the program automatically erases your local browsing history after 15 minutes of inactivity. This provides an additional layer of privacy protection in case you share your device with others. Search Encrypt 5.     Disconnect Search This innovative solution allows you the benefit of receiving results from the largest search engines without compromising your privacy. lets you use any search engine. Once you input a search term, the query is rerouted and made anonymous through the program’s servers. It is then run in the search engine you chose. This gives you the best of both worlds: you can use your favorite search engine without having to worry about your privacy. Disconnect Search 6.     Keyhole is an effective search tool that lets you search specifically for social media content and statistics, such as how many times your blog post was shared or tracking the latest hashtag. Keyhole 7.     Social Mention is another effective tool for tracking comments, posts, and other social-media related communications. You can use this site to search across multiple social media networks, as well as blogs, images, news, and more. Social Mention People Search Tools If you are trying to track down a particular person instead of information, you may want to consider using people search tools since search engines are not always the best at finding people. Adding to the last list are: 8.     RecordsFinder lets users find people in a number of ways, including using a reverse email lookup. It is ideal for verifying someone’s background. You can get additional data such as property or business asset information for an extra fee. You can choose a monthly plan to have access to unlimited background reports, criminal record searches, and address and email lookups. RecordsFinder 9.     LinkedIn People Search can help you find new connections on this popular employment site.  You can narrow results by email address, name, language, relationship and other search parameters. With a premium membership, you can also access other search factors, such as years of experience and company size. The LinkedIn People Search 10.  Infotracer is a very good tool to find people. It provides comprehensive services, including searching for people by corralling through more than 43 billion records, using an address lookup to see a history on property, searching criminal record databases, and court records for specific case information. You can also run reverse phone lookups and username search with the service. Infotracer Conclusion Now that you know where you can go to look for and people, you can reserve your general search engine queries only for those purposes that you do not mind sharing with mega tech companies. However, now you can protect your privacy when you want to by using these alternative search engines in 2020. information

10 Alternative Search Engines to Use in 2020

You probably use the web every single day. And a growing concern among every single web user whether or not their information—their identity, banking information, or what they’re browsing—is being tracked by eyes other than their own. And it’s not just hacking threats that we’re all concerned about. Our private information is a billion-dollar goldmine to companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon, who are stockpiling our data for their own lucrative purposes. There’s no escaping it on our phones, either—over in Apple’s app store are collecting our information. 250 apps And apart from tech giants amassing our data in droves, there’s a lot to fear in the world of government tracking (let’s all remember Edward Snowden). Taking control of can cease hacking attempts, gives those living in countries that might block content the power of accessing what they want, and can give us all the freedom of the fundamental human right that is real privacy. This year more than ever, there’s an overwhelming need to take back the helm of what’s ours. internet privacy In 2020, make your web privacy a central concern. Here are five tools to do just that. Virtual Private Network (VPN) Implementing a VPN is kind of like locking yourself in a near-impenetrable room while the rest of the world carries on out in the open. It’s your very own private chamber, and no one has another like it. VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are private, controlled networks that give users anonymity by creating a private network from a public internet connection. A VPN protects your privacy by using encryption tech between your device and a VPN server, masking your IP address so that all that you’re doing is untraceable. Setup is a painless process: simply get for access, make an account, then download it to your computer and mobile devices. After logging in, you’ll find that most VPNs offer servers based in other countries that you can connect to. But before implementing a VPN, you have to make sure that they’re not doing the very thing they set out to protect you from. Make sure the VPN you choose has a no-log policy—meaning, it doesn’t track and keep records of user activities. a budget VPN Tor If bulletproof cybersecurity is what you want, then your search ends at , or The Onion Router. Tor is free software that facilitates anonymous transmissions. It’s made up of tens of thousands of volunteer nodes working hard to encrypt your data. Tor After you connect to the Tor network, all sent and received data passes through an arbitrary selection of nodes only engaging through the Tor network. Data leaving your device is encrypted more than once, and an encryption layer is removed each time the data reaches another node until it reaches its final exit node—a process called onion routing. In the highly unlikely event that someone manages to intercept data, it’s either the entry or exit node that they’d find, but not both, making a pathway to a user’s browsing history or data impassable. The unique folds of the Tor system mean that no one (not even the people running the nodes) can see your data. Tails Tails (The Amnesic Incognito Live System) uses the Tor network to protect user anonymity by way of a USB stick or a DVD independent of your computer’s operating system. It’s free software that can be implemented whenever the device is engaged, and on any computer—your own, a friend’s, a library computer, etc. Tails are complete with cutting-edge cryptographic tools that leave no box unchecked when it comes to protecting your data. It comes with secure, built-in applications for trustworthy web browsing, emailing, messaging, and more, and is easily disengaged when a user wants to return to their computer’s own OS. DuckDuckGo Even if you’re in private browsing mode, some search engines are still tracking your every move. eliminates all tracking when you’re searching the web, for free. DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo is essentially a private, secure Google—a search engine that doesn’t spy on your data. You can use to browse your queries, or you can add it as your default browser, which will allow you to use it when searching from your address bar. And the great thing about DuckDuckGo is that what comes up is pretty much indiscernible from what you’d find with a Google search. DuckDuckGo’s search page ProtonMail Somewhere around are sent and received every day. And according to an OMC study, over of those emails are tracked. Privacy concerns for email users are a serious issue, and ProtonMail is a free, encrypted email service that promises users to complete privacy with client-side encryption. This means no one, not even ProtonMail, will have eyes on your emails. 269 billion emails 40 percent ProtonMail is a Swiss-based startup whose infrastructure occupies Europe’s most robust data centre—all safeguarded under 1000 meters of solid rock. It’s fully compatible with other email providers and is easy to use without the need for software.

4 Important Web Security Tools During Privacy Crisis

Can the Free Market Save Privacy?

. [Full discolosure: this post was written in promotion of fourweekmba.] It was September 25th, 2008 Gabriel Weinberg, had time and money to devote to projects he felt passionate about. He had been tinkering with hundreds of projects in the last couple of years, since he had sold his previous company. Until he finally found the project he felt more passionate about. How did he know? He kept working at it. The idea might have not sounded exciting at the time. Gabriel wanted to develop a search engine, that would be focused on three elements (which he thought Google was missing). First, provide a search engine less skewered toward advertising. Second, a search engine able to provide direct answers to users‘ questions (what DuckDuckGo calls “Instant Answers”). Third, and what would prove DuckDuckGo‘s killer application over the years, was the focus over privacy. In short, DuckDuckGo challenged the classic assumption, that search engines, to make money, had to harvest huge amounts of users‘ data. Instead, DuckDuckGo, provided relevant answers and advertising mainly on a context-basis. And it threw the data on the fly. At launch day, on September 2008, there were no international newspapers’ headlines. There wasn’t a single trace of DuckDuckGo’s launch. That didn’t happen because it was not what Gabriel Weinberg was looking for. He just wanted to know whether he was on the right track to building the kind of search engine he had in mind. That day he launched DuckDuckGo on a forum, Hacker News. From there he gathered quick feedback, and in the next three years he iterated on that feedback. DuckDuckGo would gain traction by 2011, when he also raised $3 million from Union Square Ventures. From there it followed the so much dreamed Hockey Stick Growth curve: Since a few years, people are questioning whether DuckDuckGo would keep growing, as privacy might become less of a concern in the future. And yet, what I like to call, privacy as a business , has proved extremely powerful for DuckDuckGo. Privacy becomes a business model because it influences the whole business. model Negative marketing against tech giants works as a positive lever Another note of thise privacy-driven , is about how marketing works via negativa. In short, the privacy-based business model will work to dismantle given assumptions on which current tech giants have been built upon. business models Therefore, it provides an alternative, and as such it gives an option in markets that are mostly dominated by one or a very few players. This type of is inspired by the frustration developed over the years, as former startups turned tech giants (what we can call the scaling dilemma). marketing As DuckDuckGo pointed out “Our vision is to set a new standard of trust online. The Internet shouldn’t feel so creepy and getting the privacy you deserve online should be as simple as closing the blinds.” This sort of liberating vision is quite compelling and works as a basis to lower the switching costs associated with getting used with a new search engine. If you’re really motivated by privacy you will push through the initial friction of getting used to DuckDuckGo. From asymmetric to symmetric To recap, as a result of a web that got mostly monetized in an , in the last decades we saw the following: asymmetric ways Money asymmetry Users get a free product, companies pay to gain visibility through that product. The product is completely subsidized. Data asymmetry To sustain this , product have built-in mechanisms to harvest data, which is used to offer a better service, but it’s also repackaged and sold to companies as attention currency. The asymmetry here is that the data the user gets from the free service is small compared to the ability of the tech company to use and monetize that data. In short, where the user has the data in the form of entertainment (news in the feed), this data the user gets is not scalable, and it has limited value. On the other hand, the users’ data get processed by the tech giant in a scalable way. This triggers , that makes the advantage of the tech much larger compared to that of the user. It’s important to highlight that this asymmetry works at individual level, not necessarily at societal level. model network effects platform Marketing asymmetry As the key stakeholder (the user) and the key customer (the company paying for visibility) are two separate entities. The platform has to hide as much as possible the monetization process from users (take the case of to make them look as organic results). This creates a belief in users that most of what they see is free, and the average user ignores the fact that there is a monetization going on (and perhaps the user doesn’t care as long as the service works well). This sort of asymmetry in the communication, transforms marketing in a set of engineering processes, to hide as much as possible how the company monetizes its core asset, so that the user doesn’t feel like a product. Google’s advertising redesign Key takeaways from privacy-as-a-business-model A privacy-based business model, will have specific features that influence its technology, how it monetizes it and how it communicates it. More precisely: It affects product engineering, as a privacy based has to make sure that it collects the minimum amount of data necessary to make the service work well, while throwing it on the fly. business model It changes the monetization strategy: as also the way the platform makes money, even if hidden, it has to be context-based, not behavioral-based. It lowers switching costs as the sole fact that the product offers privacy as , it makes the user pass through the initial friction to switching up. value proposition It is a different type of marketing what we can call contrarian marketing, as it offers an alternative to the current, dominant players, by dismantling their core assumptions.

Privacy As A Service: The DuckDuckGo Application

If you’re unfamiliar with DuckDuckGo, they are an Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs. Whenever you are connected to the internet your data can be collected, tracked, and used against you, Google and Facebook are tracking you, what you watch, where you shop, even when you sleep, their hidden trackers follow you through the internet on millions of sites and apps. They build detailed profiles and allow advertisers to bid on you, that'show their business works. Over the years, DuckDuckGo has offered millions of people a private alternative to Google, serving over 16 billion anonymous searches. However, they are excited to launch fully revamped versions of our browser extension and mobile app, extending DuckDuckGo's protection beyond the search box to wherever the Internet takes you. It’s hard to use the Internet without it feeling a bit creepy – like there’s a nosey neighbor watching everything you do from across the street. Except, instead of a nosey neighbor, it’s a vast array of highly sophisticated tracker networks, run by big companies like Google and Facebook, recording everything you do online, often without your knowledge, and selling their findings to the highest bidder via targeted ads. While closing the blinds at home can put a stop to your neighbors, there isn’t something that simple that can work online. Until now. Today DuckDuckGo is taking a major step to simplify online privacy with the launch of fully revamped versions of DuckDuckGo's browser extension and mobile app, now with built-in tracker network blocking, smarter encryption, and, of course, private search – all designed to operate seamlessly together while you search and browse the web. DuckDuckGo updated app and extension are now available across all major platforms – Firefox, Safari, Chrome, iOS, and Android – so that you can easily get all the privacy essentials you need on any device with just one download. The DuckDuckGo browser extension and mobile app will also now show you a Privacy Grade rating (A-F) when you visit a website. This rating lets you see at a glance how protected you are, dig into the details to see who they caught trying to track you and learn how they enhanced the underlying website's privacy measures. The Privacy Grade is scored automatically based on the prevalence of hidden tracker networks, encryption availability, and website privacy practices. To date, cobbling together an effective privacy solution has required researching complicated technologies, installing multiple add-ons and apps on each device, and often worsening your Internet experience. Others have been unfortunately misled by supposed simple solutions. Think “Incognito” mode blocks Google from watching what you’re doing? Think again. Private browsing modes are marketed to make you think that if it's not in your device’s browser history, it never happened. Sadly, that couldn't be further from the truth. With the new DuckDuckGo browser extension or mobile app, you are now able to seamlessly: Expose and Block Tracker Networks Watching You The vast majority of websites across the Internet contain hidden tracker networks, with Google trackers now lurking behind 76% of pages, Facebook’s trackers on 24% of pages, and countless others soaking up your personal information to follow you with ads around the Web, or worse. DuckDuckGo Privacy Protection will block all the hidden trackers they can find, exposing the major advertising networks tracking you over time, so that you can track who's trying to track you. Increase Encryption Protection While not all sites offer an encrypted version, thankfully this has been rapidly changing. If DuckDuckGo discovers a site that offers an encrypted version but does not send you to it automatically, DuckDuckGo will. This encryption protects you from eavesdroppers, like ISPs, grabbing up your personal information as it travels across the Internet between you and the websites you visit. Decode a Website’s Privacy Policy Most privacy policies are difficult to understand and aren’t reviewedclosely enough. Even if DuckDuckGo block all the tracker networks DuckDuckGo finds, and even if DuckDuckGo upgrade encryption, a website could still be using your data for nefarious purposes, such as selling it to third parties. DuckDuckGo partnered with Terms of Service Didn't Read (TOSDR) to include their scores of website terms of service and privacy policies, where available. However, because most privacy policies still remain unstudied, DuckDuckGo is working with TOSDR to help them to rate and label as many websites as possible. Search Privately Of course, the DuckDuckGo app and extension also include DuckDuckGo private search! You share your most personal information with your search engine, like your financial, medical, and political questions. What you search for is your own business, which is why the DuckDuckGo search doesn’t track you. Ever. Once you start using the new app and browser extension, you’ll quickly notice something: hardly any website currently gets an "A" on privacy. That’s because hardly any website out there truly prioritizes your privacy. Because of these widespread poor privacy practices, too many people believe you simply can’t expect privacy on the Internet. DuckDuckGo disagrees and has made it their mission to set a new standard of trust online. DuckDuckGo wants privacy to be the default, not the exception, and this launch is a major step in that direction. For the last decade, DuckDuckGo has been giving you the ability to search privately, but that privacy was only limited to the DuckDuckGo search box. Now, when you also use the DuckDuckGo browser extension or mobile app, DuckDuckGo will provide you with seamless privacy protection on the websites you visit. DuckDuckGo's goal is to expand this privacy protection over time by adding even more privacy features into this single package. While not all privacy protection can be as seamless, the essentials available today and those that DuckDuckGo will be adding will go a long way to protecting your privacy online, without compromising your Internet experience. If you’re unfamiliar with DuckDuckGo, they are an Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs. Whenever you are connected to the internet your data can be collected, tracked, and used against you, Google and Facebook are tracking you, what you watch, where you shop, even when you sleep, their hidden trackers follow you through the internet on millions of sites and apps. They build detailed profiles and allow advertisers to bid on you, that's how their business works. Over the years, DuckDuckGo has offered millions of people a private alternative to Google, serving over 16 billion anonymous searches . However, they are excited to launch fully revamped versions of our browser extension and mobile app, extending DuckDuckGo's protection beyond the search box to wherever the Internet takes you. 16 billion anonymous searches It’s hard to use the Internet without it feeling a bit creepy – like there’s a nosey neighbor watching everything you do from across the street. Except, instead of a nosey neighbor, it’s a vast array of highly sophisticated tracker networks, run by big companies like Google and Facebook, recording everything you do online , often without your knowledge, and selling their findings to the highest bidder via targeted ads. While closing the blinds at home can put a stop to your neighbors, there isn’t something that simple that can work online. Until now. recording everything you do online Today DuckDuckGo is taking a major step to simplify online privacy with the launch of fully revamped versions of DuckDuckGo's browser extension and mobile app, now with built-in tracker network blocking, smarter encryption, and, of course, private search – all designed to operate seamlessly together while you search and browse the web. DuckDuckGo updated app and extension are now available across all major platforms – Firefox , Safari , Chrome , iOS , and Android – so that you can easily get all the privacy essentials you need on any device with just one download. Firefox Safari Chrome iOS Android The DuckDuckGo browser extension and mobile app will also now show you a Privacy Grade rating (A-F) when you visit a website. This rating lets you see at a glance how protected you are, dig into the details to see who they caught trying to track you and learn how they enhanced the underlying website's privacy measures. The Privacy Grade is scored automatically based on the prevalence of hidden tracker networks, encryption availability, and website privacy practices. To date, cobbling together an effective privacy solution has required researching complicated technologies, installing multiple add-ons and apps on each device, and often worsening your Internet experience. Others have been unfortunately misled by supposed simple solutions. Think “Incognito” mode blocks Google from watching what you’re doing? Think again. Private browsing modes are marketed to make you think that if it's not in your device’s browser history, it never happened. Sadly, that couldn't be further from the truth . couldn't be further from the truth With the new DuckDuckGo browser extension or mobile app, you are now able to seamlessly: Expose and Block Tracker Networks Watching You The vast majority of websites across the Internet contain hidden tracker networks , with Google trackers now lurking behind 76% of pages, Facebook’s trackers on 24% of pages, and countless others soaking up your personal information to follow you with ads around the Web, or worse. DuckDuckGo Privacy Protection will block all the hidden trackers they can find, exposing the major advertising networks tracking you over time, so that you can track who's trying to track you. contain hidden tracker networks Increase Encryption Protection While not all sites offer an encrypted version, thankfully this has been rapidly changing . If DuckDuckGo discovers a site that offers an encrypted version but does not send you to it automatically, DuckDuckGo will. This encryption protects you from eavesdroppers, like ISPs, grabbing up your personal information as it travels across the Internet between you and the websites you visit. this has been rapidly changing Decode a Website’s Privacy Policy Most privacy policies are difficult to understand and aren’t reviewed closely enough. Even if DuckDuckGo block all the tracker networks DuckDuckGo finds, and even if DuckDuckGo upgrade encryption, a website could still be using your data for nefarious purposes, such as selling it to third parties. DuckDuckGo partnered with Terms of Service Didn't Read (TOSDR) to include their scores of website terms of service and privacy policies, where available. However, because most privacy policies still remain unstudied, DuckDuckGo is working with TOSDR to help them to rate and label as many websites as possible. Terms of Service Didn't Read Search Privately Of course, the DuckDuckGo app and extension also include DuckDuckGo private search! You share your most personal information with your search engine, like your financial, medical, and political questions. What you search for is your own business, which is why the DuckDuckGo search doesn’t track you. Ever. Once you start using the new app and browser extension, you’ll quickly notice something: hardly any website currently gets an "A" on privacy. That’s because hardly any website out there truly prioritizes your privacy. Once you start using the new app and browser extension, you’ll quickly notice something: hardly any website currently gets an "A" on privacy. That’s because hardly any website out there truly prioritizes your privacy. Because of these widespread poor privacy practices, too many people believe you simply can’t expect privacy on the Internet. DuckDuckGo disagrees and has made it their mission to set a new standard of trust online. DuckDuckGo wants privacy to be the default, not the exception, and this launch is a major step in that direction. For the last decade, DuckDuckGo has been giving you the ability to search privately, but that privacy was only limited to the DuckDuckGo search box. Now, when you also use the DuckDuckGo browser extension or mobile app, DuckDuckGo will provide you with seamless privacy protection on the websites you visit. DuckDuckGo's goal is to expand this privacy protection over time by adding even more privacy features into this single package. While not all privacy protection can be as seamless, the essentials available today and those that DuckDuckGo will be adding will go a long way to protecting your privacy online, without compromising your Internet experience.

DuckDuckGo Is A Step In The Right Direction For User Privacy

When it comes to private search engines, DuckDuckGo is by far the most popular. If someone has heard of one private search engine, it is probably DuckDuckGo. It began in 2008, and has been growing rapidly ever since. DuckDuckGo currently records over 20 million searches per day. Back in February, I published about the best private alternatives to : this story Google _Private search engines have seen huge growth over the past few years. Until recently, it was unthinkable that anyone…_hackernoon.com The Best Private Search Engines — Alternatives to Google Since then, the post has racked up over 220k views. After a few months of feedback, I realized that Google wasn’t the only search engine people were looking for alternatives to. While DuckDuckGo doesn’t track people using its search engine, it isn’t a perfect, private solution. It doesn’t “follow you around the web with creepy ads”, but for and privacy there are better options. security Search Encrypt uses end-to-end encryption to keep your searches totally private. It started in April 2016 and has been steadily growing. As far as private search engines go, Search Encrypt is probably the most focused on encryption to keep your searches private. Search Encrypt You can use Search Encrypt online or as an installed on your browser. , like most others on this list, is a metasearch engine. This just means that Search Encrypt securely gets its search results from somewhere else, rather than using its own search technology. extension Search Encrypt When you search with Search Encrypt your search term is encrypted locally, and then and transmitted to Search Encrypt’s servers securely. Your personal information is never linked to your searches. After you’ve finished your searching, the encryption key for your search term expires so it is essentially gone forever. How Search Encrypt Keeps Your Searches Private: No Tracking Expiring Browser History SSL/HTTPS Encryption Privacy by Design Transparency StartPage is a great private search option for anyone who prefers Google search results. StartPage calls itself “the world’s most private search engine”. It began as IxQuick in 1998, but later switched to StartPage which was easier to spell and remember, and incorporated Google’s results. StartPage StartPage has a large user base around the world, especially in European countries. It also does a good job of protecting user privacy. It doesn’t store any user data or share information with third parties. Another useful feature StartPage offers is a proxy. This lets you visit any website in your search results through StartPage’s proxy service, further protecting your personal information, like your IP address. StartPage lets users change their preferences and save them in a privacy-friendly way. You can switch your settings as needed, and then StartPage will give you a unique link to use that will give you access to your “version” of StartPage. Qwant Qwant is a search engine based in France that “ who you are or what you are doing.” According to its , Qwant doesn’t track your searches or use your personal data for advertising or other purposes. Qwant has a feature called Qwick search shortcuts that’s similar to . never tries to guess About page DuckDuckGo’s !bangs Qwant offers many filters for finding the right search results faster, including web, news, social, images, videos and music. Another cool feature is called Qwant Lite. This is a special version of Qwant that is optimized for users with older browsers or who are using slower network connections and older computers. Searx is a private metasearch engine that is completely open source. This lets anyone using it to create their own instance. However, if you use your own instance, your search results will be the only one served so it diminishes the privacy. Searx There are a number of public instances that anyone can use, but because it is totally hackable, someone could create a “rogue” instance and potentially log your searches. For that reason, you can use — the official public instance. searx.me Searx’s results page offers many search categories, which helps narrow down your search results. It has IT tab, with results from sites like Stack Overflow and GitHub, which is definitely useful for developers. Searx offers really diverse search results, as it sources results from about 70 different search engines. More About Private Search Engines _Search Encrypt is a privacy based search engine. It is built with privacy-by-design, which means it was made to…_choosetoencrypt.com What is Search Encrypt? Why Should You Use A Private Search Engine? - Search Encrypt Blog _Search neutrality is the idea that a search engine does not limit or influence a person's ability to access information…_choosetoencrypt.com What is Search Neutrality? Is Your Search Engine Biased? - Search Encrypt Blog

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