DuckDuckGo
Summary
DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused search engine that is based in the US and does not collect any personal information from users as a result of searches. The search engine can be used on any platform.
Breach History
Has there ever been a breach or data leak?
No known hacks or data breaches!
🎉
Privacy Checklist
Is any kind of biometric data collected (health, heart, voice, etc.)?
Are you able to delete your data / the data collected about you?
Does it use cookies, telemetry, or third-party tracking scripts?
Is the privacy policy user-friendly (easy to understand)?
Does it have parental controls?
Does it use encryption to protect your data both in-transit and at-rest?
Does it get regular software and / or firmware updates?
Does it require you to create a strong password?
Is there a system in place for managing security vulnerabilities?
Does it have a privacy policy?
How Can It Snoop?
Does it have a camera or request / require access to a camera?
Does it have a microphone or request / require access to a microphone?
Does it track your location or request / require access to location data?
Account Requirements
Does it require an email address to use?
Does it require a phone number to use?
Does it require an address (home or office) to use?
Payment Options
Are you able to use a credit card as a payment option?
Are you able to use a cryptocurrency as a payment option?
Are you able to use PayPal as a payment option?
Are you able to use cash or gift cards as a payment option?
What Could Go Wrong?
Virtually no risk. DuckDuckGo does not store IP addresses or cookie data from users so there is no information to be shared with third parties even if they wanted to. Search data may be stored, but it is not linked to users in any way, and is only used to improve things like misspellings.
How Does It Share Your Data?
DuckDuckGo does not collect any information on its users, including their IP address and cookies, and therefore have no information that can be shared with third parties. It is possible that information about product data may be shared with some e-commerce sites, such as products purchased from them, but this data does not contain any personally identifiable information.
Good Things
- Totally anonymous web searches.
Bad Things
- May take some time to adjust to different search algorithms and corresponding results.
Final Thoughts
DuckDuckGo is a very privacy-minded alternative to Google, Bing, and other search engines. It does not collect any significant information from its users, so they could not share any information even if they wanted to. DuckDuckGo is a great choice for a private search engine.