‘Privacy’ Search Engine DuckDuckGo Smoked Over Hidden Tracking Agreement With Microsoft
DuckDuckGo, the search engine which claims to offer ‘real privacy’ because it doesn’t track searches or store users’ history, has come under fire after a security researcher discovered that the mobile DuckDuckGo browser app contains a third-party tracker from Microsoft.
Researcher Zach Edwards found that while Google and Facebook’s trackers are blocked, trackers related to bing.com and linkedin.com were also being allowed through.
You can capture data within the DuckDuckGo so-called private browser on a website like Facebook’s https://t.co/u8W44qvsqF and you’ll see that DDG does NOT stop data flows to Microsoft’s Linkedin domains or their Bing advertising domains.
iOS + Android proof:
👀🫥😮💨🤡⛈️⚖️💸💸💸 pic.twitter.com/u3Q30KIs7e— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
[...]
In short, DuckDuckGo doesn’t provide the type of privacy they’ve earned a reputation for - they simply betray users the least.
As TechRadar notes, this didn’t go over well.
The news quickly drew in crowds of dissatisfied users, with DuckDuckGo founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg, soon chiming in to confirm the authenticity of the findings.
Apparently, DuckDuckGo has a search syndication agreement with the software giant from Redmond, with Weinberg adding that the restrictions are only found in the browser, and are not related to the search engine.
What remains unknown is why the company who is known for its transparency decided to keep this agreement a secret for as long as it could. -TechRadar
See Edwards’ entire May 23 Twitter thread below:
Sometimes you find something so disturbing during an audit, you’ve gotta check/recheck because you assume that *something* must be broken in the test.
But I’m confident now.
The new @DuckDuckGo browsers for iOS/Android don’t block Microsoft data flows, for LinkedIn or Bing.🧵 pic.twitter.com/ol7Ydfo3BJ
— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
If you download the current version of the DuckDuckGo browser for iOS/Android, & if you hope this browser actually stops data transfers to super common advertising subsidiaries owned by a company like Microsoft… well too bad, the browser has a secret allow data flow list 👀🤡 pic.twitter.com/EbOBEuJmaw
— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
It’s public knowledge that DuckDuckGo has been creating exemptions for Microsoft for awhile, which they’ve been required to explain on a page like @ https://t.co/6W3NfyQxJX / DDG openly says they are sending your user IP address & user agent to Microsoft for the DDG ads on-click. pic.twitter.com/mMNnupgVi2
— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
I tested the DuckDuckGo so-called private browser for both iOS and Android, yet *neither version* blocked data transfers to Microsoft’s Linkedin + Bing ads while viewing Facebook’s workplace[.]com homepage.
Look at DDG bragging about stopping Facebook on Workplace, no MSFT..: pic.twitter.com/xfqhUOZMmf
— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
And you can see proof that the DuckDuckGo team *knows* that Microsoft’s domains are crossite tracking vectors @ https://t.co/gAoEEUoeDR – that’s the DDG feedback loop to help them populate blocklists.
So if DDG’s researchers *know* MSFT/Bing/Linkedin=tracking, why exclude them? pic.twitter.com/LXcpW1halo
— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
And if you are a privacy researcher working at DDG, do you think it’s appropriate to push rhetoric about why this is a good browser, knowing that there are global data brokers – your own partners – who you are purposefully not stopping data flows for, on domains they don’t own?🆒 pic.twitter.com/yKJPx86BUw
— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
There are a variety of lists from DuckDuckGo to help parse this, like “Domains which should have cookie protections disabled due to site breakage issues” https://t.co/WaJAP3LjKX – which includes the bat.]bing.]com domain but does NOT include the Linkedin domain, so 100% unclear:
— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
I won’t hold my breath that DuckDuckGo will update their own so-called private browser to actually stop data flows to their own ad tech partners, but this is one of those things that makes a privacy auditor … annoyed? bitter? confrontational?
Does Google / Apple care? </🧵> pic.twitter.com/SB0jrizrVi
— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
Source: https://ncrenegade.com/privacy-search-engine-duckduckgo-smoked-over-hidden-tracking-agreement-with-microsoft/
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The browser NOT the search engine…
Duck Duck Deception as usual.
LOL, uckfing liars everywhere.
Dropping them right now. Saw alist of similar sites, anyone know one that does not track.