Your ISP tracks you when browsing the internet
Whenever you browse the internet, your ISP (Internet Service Provider) keeps track of your web browsing. DuckDuckGo offers an alternative private search engine to eliminate this tracking logging. You are reliant on your ISP company – via your home internet or mobile data subscription – to surf the web. By this logging, they can sell your browsing history to others, and as a result, you receive ads following you all over the internet, or you get targeted by junk mail providers.
Embedded code collecting personal data
Every website you visit records your presence. But it does not stop there; these sites contain code from third-party trackers. It is standard practice for the majority of websites. This embedded code is used for advertising, analytics, and social media. Identical or related trackers on multiple sites allow the companies behind these third-party trackers to distill an enormous personal data collection by combining the data found. A complete data economy has risen out of this online information gathering. Visitor profiles include browsing history, location awareness, search and purchase behavior, and the like.
An alternative private search engine to improve online privacy
Opting-out of tracking can be done quite quickly by using an alternative private search engine like DuckDuckGo. By installing this tool, you will not only improve your online privacy. Your surfing speed will be better, and your data usage will be lower as well. The reason for that is straightforward; by blocking third-party tracks, there is no time needed to load them anyway.
A privacy browser with increased encryption
DuckDuckGo will bring you tracker blocking, private searching, plus increased encryption on all of your browsing devices. They have mobile apps for iOS and Android, the DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser, and – at the moment – they provide browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, the DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials package.
Check whether the address starts with HTTPS
In using DuckDuckGo`s alternative private search engine, a redirection to HTTPS-encrypted sites is included, whenever available. When connecting to a website, you can quickly check if you are using a secure connection or not. When you notice the site address starts with HTTPS instead of HTTP, you know this is an encrypted connection. The address bar will also display a padlock icon. Your ISP can still see the domain you are looking at, but they cannot see which specific pages you visit within an HTPPS website. So using HTTPS sites a much as possible helps to reduce the extent your ISP can keep track of your surfing behavior.
Personal data not protected in incognito mode
People are increasingly aware of the need to protect their online privacy. Unfortunately, there are still many misconceptions also. When you solely rely on using the incognito mode while browsing, for example, it does not guarantee much to protect your personal data. Surfing in incognito mode only deletes your browsing history on your local device. It does not prevent websites from collecting tracking information about you.
DuckDuckGo is not against advertising on the web
The DuckDuckGo alternative private search engine is not against advertising on the web, so it is not an ad-blocker but a third-party blocker tool. Like many websites, DuckDuckGo also relies on advertising to keep its search engine free to use. The difference lies in the fact that they use contextual advertising; ads are based on the keywords entered without any reference to the person. Most other websites work with behavioral advertising, a technique based on vast amounts of individual data profiles.
More and more people start using an alternative private search engine
A growing number of people value their online privacy these days. As DuckDuckGo does not perform any collection of visitor tracking, there is only an estimated count of people using their alternative private search engine. Based on the monthly searches count, this seems to lie above 50 million users. An important trigger for individuals to make the switch relates to the search results while using their search engine.
Local information is possible without tracking a person
When searching on Google, the results displayed will be based on the data profile built by the tracking codes while visiting sites over time. That is far from being unbiased. Personalization and localization are not the same. People want local information when they search the internet, restaurants nearby, local weather forecasts, and so on. Local info can be achieved without tracking a person. Your IP address automatically embeds your approximate location – unless you are hiding your actual location by using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection.
Filtering results enhances polarization
Moreover, personalized results showing you what they believe you probably will click on are incomplete; that is because the ones you probably will skip are filtered out. This mechanism is known as the filter bubble. It is easy to see this goes beyond pure advertising. Translated to political opinions, this leads to getting more search results of what you already agree upon, and less to opposing ideas. The filter bubble could contribute to polarization in society. Read this article to find out more about the mechanisms behind filter bubbles and polarization.
Using DuckDuckGo is a good start when you care about data privacy
As a DuckDuckGo user for over a year, I can only state that I am finding all the information I need while using this alternative private search engine. There are more ways to protect your online personal information, we will write about those soon. But DuckDuckGo is a good start when you care about data privacy.
