DuckDuckGo not that private?

Discussion in 'privacy problems' started by elapsed, Jun 22, 2013.

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  1. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    http://www.alexanderhanff.com/duckduckgone

    I'm not sure exactly how trustworthy this is, but that was enough drama to make me swap to startpage. Worth a read.
     
  2. Tarnak

    Tarnak Registered Member

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    YuckYuckNo! I will give them a miss, now.
     
  3. kupo

    kupo Registered Member

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    Answer from DuckDuckGo
    Full discussion: https://duck.co/topic/we-have-to-talk-about-ddgs-honesty
     
  4. Warlockz

    Warlockz Registered Member

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    Quote from first link
    IMO i dont care what search engine your using, your isp still tracks dns requests, and probably other things and who would be dumb enough to make any private or what this guy was saying "authorities would request" searches without using some other form of tool that actually hides your ip and encrypts your connection in the first place?
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2013
  5. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    Honestly, I don't bother with search engine privacy unless I use something like Tor/VPN, so meh.
     
  6. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    First, I don't use DuckDuckGo because of their poor quality search results, so this is not a real issue for me.

    Second, about their answers:
    This is the same corporate marketing mentality that judges all people by a (real or perceived) majority of them, and it is the kind of attitude I wasn't expecting from a small search engine provider, and especially not from a privacy oriented one.

    No, it is a violation of trust, and for someone that prides on being privacy/trust oriented, it is even worse.

    @Warlockz, the ISP can sniff your DNS requests, but not the search contents. This is a significant difference, IMO.
     
  7. m00nbl00d

    m00nbl00d Registered Member

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    Interesting topic. Which made check something again. IxQuick mentions the following at their website:

    So, how can they share personal information when they also mention that:

    Interesting privacy policies and privacy oriented search engines. :D

    Source: -https://ixquick.com/eng/privacy-policy.html
     
  8. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    I'm not entirely sure m00n, but it's probably in place to cover their rear end, even though they claim they will never have said data in the first place.

    DNSCrypt, but thanks for the concern.
     
  9. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    I switched back to Startpage as my default search engine quite a while ago, for a variety of reasons. I've always preferred it to be honest. It is easy enough to make as the default engine in SeaMonkey & is one of the few that I can add to Maxthon as a default option. It isn't that easy to achieve in Firefox however & involves using about:config.

    One thing that has struck me as interesting is that it is possible to change Firefox's Google default setting by typing browser.search.defaultenginename into the filter & changing the name of the default engine. My guess is that this (DDG) ability is bundled with Firefox.

    Changing the default to Startpage (or Ixquick) is not so easy & keyword.URL has to be typed into the filter & the string changed to Startpage in accordance to their own instructions on their page.



    I don't yet know how to change this back to Google or DDG though as I don't know what the actual Google/DDG string is. So be warned!
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2013
  10. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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  11. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Yeah, it gives you instructions for Firefox on that page (I use Startpage though). You still have to change the string in about:config.

    You don't need to do this in SeaMonkey if you have the plug-in as you can do it easily in Edit/Preferences/Internet Search.

    Adding Startpage/Ixquick to Maxthon is relatively easy as you just copy/paste the Startpage IP from the 'advanced' explanation into 'Add to Search Engines'.

    This just isn't as straightforward in Firefox & you have to change the string itself. I have tried this on a portable & it works, but if you wanted to change back you would have to use the correct Google/DDG string.
     
  12. NotRight

    NotRight Registered Member

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    Thank you very much for this post. I stopped using DDG and switched to Startpage after reading this.

    I had good customer service with DDG. I was reporting a bug in their add-on with Mozilla and someone helped me fix it. I had to "Our engineer recommends to go to about:config find the browser.search.defaultenginename option and set that to DuckDuckGo."

    After I removed DDG addons, changed home-page, I almost forgot they suggested me go in to the settings and change that to DDG. That almost stayed in there; getting side tracked.

    Good read, thanks.
     
  13. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    For Startpage:
    https://www.startpage.com/eng/download-startpage-plugin.html

    I don't understand what you mean, on the page I linked there is an "Install" button, and you don't need to edit anything by hand (I'm talking about Firefox).
     
  14. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    You can install the plug-in for the small search bar at the right of the URL runbar. However, if you want to make Startpage as the default search engine, in other words, the one that will enable you to search straight from typing a search request into the runbar itself, you need to change the string in about:config.

    In Firefox the default search engine is (usually) Google. You can change this to DDG in about:config.

    If you want to change the default search engine to Startpage you have to follow their instructions on this page:




    https://startpage.com/eng/download-startpage-plugin.html


    Type 'about:config' in the browser location bar and hit 'enter'
    Accept the warning message to be careful
    Enter 'keyword.URL' in the filter on top of the page
    Double-click on the 'keyword.URL'- line that shows up
    In the pop-up window replace the Google string with: https://startpage.com/do/search?language=english&cat=web&query=
    (For mobile version please use: https://startpage.com/do/m/mobilesearch?language=english&cat=web&query=)
    Click on 'OK'
    Close the window or tab

    Now, you are ready to search. If you type your search term into the Location Bar, Firefox, SeaMonkey, or Flock will submit a search query to StartPage since your search term is not a valid URL. Every entry without a clear match to a URL will display the StartPage search results page for the entry. Any settings you had saved before will be respected.

    My point being, you don't actually have to do this in SeaMonkey as you can change the default search engine in 'Preferences'.

    With Firefox you have to follow the instructions above.
     
  15. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    Now I understood what you mean, and you are correct :)
     
  16. Warlockz

    Warlockz Registered Member

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    sorry but DNScrypt and some funky search engine does not make you invincible. edit removed comment sorry
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2013
  17. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    I've done this on a portable Firefox version. The only problem is that I don't know the string syntax to change it back to Google or DDG.
     
  18. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    Is this of any help?
    http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keyword.URL
     
  19. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    Where did I say I'm invincible? You said DNS snooping from your ISP, I responded with DNSCrypt (clearly viewable in my signature so your post was utter pointless). Thanks for trying...? Some people. :rolleyes:
     
  20. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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  21. Warlockz

    Warlockz Registered Member

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    @ elapsed

    the gov has its own set of cloned certs, and OpenDNS is located within US Jurisdiction, so you do the math

    I just dont want newbs to get confused into thinking DNScrypt is some kind of magic anonymous tool when its not!
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2013
  22. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    This thread is about DDG, and their recent behavior with this blogger, please stay on topic. You were the one that spun it into a whole anonymity debate.

    No one here claimed DNSCrypt is a magic anonymous tool. You claimed that ISP's can track your DNS requests, not with DNSCrypt. But now you're spinning your argument onto OpenDNS, yet DNSCrypt isn't tied to OpenDNS. Anything to create and win a pointless argument I guess?
     
  23. shuverisan

    shuverisan Registered Member

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    @Elapsed
    Good article, thanks for posting. Never seen that site before.


    @Dave
    This should be helpful. It's for Firefox and forks, put the url into keyword.url.
    Code:
    Bing (does not support https)
    http://www.bing.com/search?q=
    
    DuckDuckGo
    https://duckduckgo.com/?&q=
    
    Google
    https://www.google.com/search?q=
    
    Ixquick
    https://ixquick.com/do/metasearch.pl?q=
    
    Privatelee
    https://privatelee.qrobe.it/search?q=
    
    Startpage
    https://startpage.com/do/metasearch.pl?q=
    
    Qrobe
    https://qrobe.it/search?q=

    Edit: Suppose I should add, for Chrome and Opera, the same urls will work but put %s after the equals sign.
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2013
  24. Mman79

    Mman79 Registered Member

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    Pretty easy, M00n, most of the time privacy policies can't be trusted. You're going to be very hard pressed to find a company that won't cover their own behinds, not even for the sake of the customer.

    As far as DuckDuckGo, it frankly sucks. Startpage and such, well, just look in the corner for the "Enhanced by Google" and wonder just how private they really are.
     
  25. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    That blogger seems to be a complete joke. He thinks DDG is making fun of him... for doing what they always do, use easter eggs. The cookie is a non-issue (nonidentifying) and they've removed it, and it wasn't theirs to begin with.

    His only decent point is that they're hosted in the US. He should stick to that.

    Or he should stop publishing, reading his stuff he is a huge baby (check his posts on the DDG forum where he's flipping out at every person there, unable to handle basic conversation or express his grievances in any kind of civilized manner), and weirdly paranoid about forum posters... "stalking" him.
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2013
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