DuckDuckGo in hot water over hidden tracking agreement with Microsoft

Date:
Wed, 25 May 2022 17:04:35 +0000

Description:
DuckDuckGo browser now allows Microsoft trackers, but others are being blocked.

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DuckDuckGo may face a user backlash after security researchers discovered a hidden tracking agreement with Microsoft.

The privacy-focused company offers a search engine that claims not to track peoples searches, or behavior, and also doesn't build user profiles that can be used to display personalized advertising.

Search engine aside, DuckDuckGo also offers a mobile browser of the same
name, but this has raised concerns, as although this promises to block hidden third-party trackers, some from a certain tech giant are allowed to continue operating.

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Namely, while Googles and Facebooks trackers are being blocked, those of Microsoft are allowed to continue running. Zach Edwards, the security researcher who first discovered the issue, later also found that trackers related to the bing.com and linkedin.com domains were also being allowed through the blocks.

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. Read more

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finger

In a statement sent to BleepingComputer , Weinberg said that DuckDuckGo
offers above-and-beyond protection other browsers dont even think of doing, but that the company never promised full anonymity when browsing.

"We have always been extremely careful to never promise anonymity when browsing, because that frankly isnt possible given how quickly trackers
change how they work to evade protections and the tools we currently offer," he added.

"When most other browsers on the market talk about tracking protection, they are usually referring to 3rd-party cookie protection and fingerprinting protection, and our browsers for iOS, Android, and our new Mac beta, impose these restrictions on third-party tracking scripts, including those from Microsoft. What we're talking about here is an above-and-beyond protection that most browsers don't even attempt to do that is, blocking third-party tracking scripts before they load on 3rd party websites."

"Because we're doing this where we can, users are still getting significantly more privacy protection with DuckDuckGo than they would using other browsers. Stay truly anonymous online with the best VPN services around



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/duckduckgo-in-hot-water-over-hidden-tracking-ag reement-with-microsoft/


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