Duckduckgo Search Engine

Apps
1

Duckduckgo based on chromium or any other or own engine?

2

Is this a question or?

4

Based on its size, I guess it’s just a wrapper of the webview.

5

You can set DuckDuckGo as the default search engine in Privacy Browser, although there are some concerns about the privacy thereof.

https://www.stoutner.com/new-default-homepage-and-search-engine/

https://www.stoutner.com/switching-to-startpage-as-the-default-homepage-and-search-engine/

6

I guess they ask about DDG browser app.

Also, DDG is back as default [search] in Torbrowser again. And with or without JavaScript work ok.

7

I think DDG is not trustworthy, but I also have some concerns about Startpage, back in the day they did a shady deal with System1, an advertising company that has a horrible privacy track record and has enough actions to make decisions for Startpage.
Nowadays they claim they are in control and nothing has changed, it is a matter of taking their word for it.

https://support.startpage.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1275/0/what-is-startpages-relationship-with-privacy-onesystem1-and-what-does-this-mean-for-my-privacy-protections

I really want to know what people think about Swisscows, it looks promising and is almost unknown. The bad thing is that it depends entirely on Javascript.

8

As you will notice from the second link I posted above, I am quite critical of Startpage. However, they are better than DuckDuckGo in the following two ways:

  1. Their search, particularly their image search, works well with JavaScript disabled, whereas DuckDuckGo’s image search with JavaScript disabled is difficult to use. This is such a critical issue that it is hard to overstate. Even if you are dealing with a distrusted entity, they are very limited in the ways they can compromise your privacy without JavaScript. With JavaScript disabled, there is no way they can abuse information they cannot collect.

  2. DuckDuckGo is currently hosted on Microsoft’s Azure platform (at least in the United States, previously it was hosted on Amazon Web Services).

    $ nslookup www.duckduckgo.com

    Non-authoritative answer:
    www.duckduckgo.com canonical name = duckduckgo.com.
    Name: duckduckgo.com
    Address: 52.250.42.157

    $ whois 52.250.42.157

    NetRange: 52.224.0.0 - 52.255.255.255
    CIDR: 52.224.0.0/11
    NetName: MSFT
    NetHandle: NET-52-224-0-0-1
    Parent: NET52 (NET-52-0-0-0-0)
    NetType: Direct Assignment
    OriginAS:
    Organization: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)
    RegDate: 2015-11-24
    Updated: 2015-11-24
    Ref: https://rdap.arin.net/registry/ip/52.224.0.0

Microsoft has access to all data stored on every server on Microsoft’s Azure platform. Even if you fully trust DuckDuckGo, how much do you trust Microsoft?

Regarding Swisscows and JavaScript, see commend 1 above. Three is no guarantee of privacy with a search engine running JavaScript.

2 Likes
11

The DuckDuckGo app uses Android’s WebView.

You can read a brief history of Android’s WebView at WebKit, AOSP/Google Webview, Gecko - #3 by sorenstoutner

12

None at all.

Microsoft now owns github too, and presumably has access to all that data too. Kudos for not using it. Even this forum can use (share data with) their login. :confused:

1 Like
14

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