This search engine protects your privacy
A search engine that protects your privacy and blocks tracker networks is now available for your phone. Here’s how it works
IT’S no secret that everything you do online is tracked, analysed and sold off to the highest bidder looking to serve you ads related to your online movements. But if you’re a net nerd it’s possible you’ve already been using DuckDuckGo – “the search engine that doesn’t track you” – to keep your internet habits to yourself.
Now the good folks behind the nifty system want you to be able to do it with ease on your phone too.
The bigger and better DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser promises users much more privacy in their online comings and goings.
The app allows you to search online as you usually would on, say, Google – with a few added bells and whistles.
“[The app] moves beyond the search box and protects your privacy wherever you go on the internet,” a company spokesperson told Mashable.
“Also, this is the first product on the market to combine tracker blocking, smarter encryption and private search into one seamless user experience across all major platforms.”
So what exactly does this mean? Well, the app (and corresponding browser extension) blocks ad-tracking networks – those used by companies such as Google and Facebook to figure out the best adverts to show you specifically according to sites you’ve visited.
The company says its software “exposes and blocks” these trackers when it can find them.
Although, as The Verge’s James Vincent points out, “In the cat-and-mouse game of advertising versus privacy tech it won’t always be able to catch them all.” Still, it’s better than nothing, right? The app “is for everyone who doesn’t like the feeling of being watched, doesn’t like ads following them around everywhere they go, or doesn’t like the idea of companies making money off their personal information,” CEO and founder Gabriel Weinberg says.
Aside from the protection against individual tracking, the DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser also automatically blocks most display ads and has a handy Fire Button that erases all your data instantly. The best part? It’s free. Available on iOS and Android.