[kwlug-disc] DDG in the news again

[Paul Nijjar]

On Tue, May 24, 2022 at 12:18:00PM -0700, Ronald Barnes wrote:
> CrankyOldBugger wrote on 2022-05-24 11:57:
> 
> > Not sure if this is the same issue as we discussed a few weeks ago, but
> > DuckDuckGo is making deals with the Devil again. >
> > https://www.reviewgeek.com/118915/duckduckgo-isnt-as-private-as-you-thought/
> 
> Fortunately, the issue concerns the DDG *browser*, not their search web
> site.

Sort of fortunately. DDG is making its living off its brand, and its
brand is strong privacy protection. It is one thing if the company is
transparent about the tradeoffs it makes to secure details. It is
another if people are revealing these compromises on Twitter. Yes, the
compromises are buried someplace deep in an EULA/Privacy policy, but
that does not count as transparency in my books. 

I continue to use DDG as my primary search engine, but I have been
suspicious of them for a while, and I use them because they seem to
the least harmful, not because I enthusiastically support them. 

Data point: I search for KWLUG on DDG. The link to kwlug.org comes up
as the first search result. Great! But the link I click is to
"https://duckduckgo.com/l/?uddg=http%3A%2F%2Fkwlug.org%2F&rut=cabb8327a6e42ae258b2db8cddd62e769e7f11e8165b56a492ca6205af89b2bd",
not "https://kwlug.org" . Somebody is tracking my click. Why is this
okay in a search engine that pretends to care about my privacy?

- Paul

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