DuckDuckGo Sees Massive Growth In Post-Snowden World 112
DuckDuckGo, the privacy-oriented search engine, has been around for over six years. But when Edward Snowden revealed the extent of NSA surveillance in 2013, DuckDuckGo started a period of strong growth that hasn't slowed yet. The search engine has seen a 600% increase in traffic over the past two years, and they're now serving 3 billion searches a year. This shouldn't be a surprise — last month, a Pew survey found that 40% of American adults didn't want their search engine to retain information about them. But members of the general public are notoriously slow to change their privacy-related behavior. DuckDuckGo's growing popularity has led them to double their employee count since early 2014, now totaling 28 people. Their success is beginning to fuel speculation about an acquisition, with Apple's name being tossed around as a potential buyer.
But where's the share buttons? (Score:4, Funny)
But will they add convenient share buttons for all the social media sites? As Dice Holdings, Incorporated has shown us, that is what makes a website great.
Take that Google... (Score:2, Interesting)
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sorry ive got to ask who runs Sequoiam it doesn't show up on google or ddg any more info? i see it uses piwik for analytics
Re:Take that Google... (Score:4, Informative)
Sequiam also uses google apis in their search page
"https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.2/jquery.min.js"
<sarcasm>They did a great job avoiding Google!</sarcasm>
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jquery isn't really a "Google API"
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jquery isn't really a "Google API"
but googleapis.com, which is what the GP was refferring to is google APIs, which allows google to track who's downloading APIs from googleapis
Good for them! (Score:5, Insightful)
I changed several browsers to use DDG as the default search. If I can't find something, I can always to go Google.com and look for it.
Hey Dice, pay close attention to this part! I don't want to have everything I do tracked and analyzed. Not by a Government nor by a company. They don't have my best interests in mind, they have _their_ best interests in mind.
I block a lot of content today that 5 years ago I never had to worry about. I'm blocking 3 sites that Dice attempts to push through their default content because two of them are under the same owner.. a former Israeli Intel head who opened social media and content sharing sites.. out of the goodness of their hearts right? Pfffft..
Using "Social Media" only increases people's ability to track. Like the new shitty "share" button where "comment" use to be. I refuse to use social media sites for the same reason I am using DDG.
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The name of Mossad head you're talking about and one of the social sites would be nice to know.
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I attempt to keep bashing to reasonable levels, so I'll give you the information and you can find things on your own. Run NoScript and load Slashdot. Note every site that attempts to talk to your browser, and start looking for company information and whois data.
I highly recommend people run NoScript all the time. You may be surprised at who you are being connected when visiting what you believe one site and maybe an add channel. Some sites are huge balls of spaghetti serving one little meatball.
Re:Good for them! (Score:5, Informative)
add to that 'disconnect' as a firefox plugin. it also filters things that you don't want (stops outbound connects that don't need to be, just to read the content).
Hypocrite (Score:1)
This goes completely against the spirit of your post in favor of anonymity.
Notice: If you post anonymously do not expect a reply.
For the first time ever I am posting logged in just to remove the positive mod I gave you.
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You are right, all that you just said is above my head and I'm in no mood to research it. To me it is simple, you want anonymity but refuse to respect that rights of others who want the same. I've been using Slashdot since before 2000, and some of the most informative and insightful posts come from those who can only post anonymously. Governments kill and people ostracize those who post unpopular things. For you to purport to want anonymity but refuse to respond to the anonymous is the pinnacle of hypocrisy
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Just fuck off. You want to track others but do not want to tracked yourself. What makes you so special that gives you the right to ignore anonymous posters but makes you expect to remain anonymous yourself. And fuck Dice for allowing such a privacy invading person such as your self for being modded so high.
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"English must not be your first language. "do not expect" in the English language does not mean the same thing as a refusal. If you can not understand phrasing in the English language, ask questions instead of making incorrect assumptions. If English is your first language, shame on you for being so weak with your comprehension skills. Based on your change of subject English is your first language and you incorrectly believe that you are intelligent."
This is poor English. 'Must not be' is more correctly use
Re:Good for them! (Score:5, Informative)
If I can't find something, I can always to go Google.com and look for it.
DDG can even handle that part for you. Check into their bangs [duckduckgo.com]. They have "!g" to automatically run your search through Google for you, saving you the hassle of navigating there yourself. I miss the inline map results when searching for addresses, so I'll use a !g on those to save myself the hassle of pulling up Google Maps directly...and I just noticed they have a !gmap, so I'll likely start using that instead.
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Turns out DDG also has triggers. For instance, type in an address and add the word "map", and it'll provide an inline map in the results from an open mapping source. Even so, I think !gm is what I'll probably end up using, since Google Maps is still the best.
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Which is effectively the same today, due to third-party doctrine ...
Ha? (Score:1)
Re:Ha? (Score:4, Funny)
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They'd never be so bold as to add tracking to duck duck go! But for performance and "other stuff" they will be adding analytics.
This is the largest delusion anyone could have about any corporation operating today.
Good luck with that shit. You're gonna need it.
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Re:Ha? (Score:5, Informative)
DuckDuckGo doesn't have a crawler. Well, they say they do, and I'm sure they have some basic crawling, but they only say that so they don't look silly for being a search engine that doesn't actually do search. They buy their results from Bing, and then do some value added stuff like munging in Wikipedia results. I doubt Apple wants to buy something that sends money to Microsoft, and they certainly won't back Google. And Apple doesn't have the expertise to build an effective search engine on their own.
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Missing the point (Score:2)
Apple would contend that nothing outside of the beautiful walled garden of Apple.com is worth searching for in the first place.
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No, Apple isn't looking to buy it nor does the article that Soulskill linked even say that. Soulskill made up the claim entirely.
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No, Apple isn't looking to buy it nor does the article that Soulskill linked even say that. Soulskill made up the claim entirely.
It's good that we have an older than i am Slashdoter like you writing how an "Apple should just buy DuckDuckGo" post become "Apple a top contender to buy DuckDuckGo"...
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Apple may buy a search engine used by people who like privacy!
Yeah, that hardly sounds credible. Apple would buy a service that offers a wide range of services. At one point, Yahoo! would have been a good target, but given the number of services they have shed, such as Yahoo! Maps, Hotjobs, et al, it's probably not as attractive now.
But DDG is hardly Apple's type. They're offering privacy to users, but that goes against the grain of even Apple - remember the Genius Bar, anybody? Apple would LOVE plenty of analytics on what their users do - they just don't packag
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Pretty much my thoughts. People use that search engine exactly because it doesn't track them. That's pretty much the only reason there is. It's slower than google, its results are far less accurate, its interface is dated, it has no, not a single, feature that reaches the levels of the big squid. Its only redeeming feature (and just think what people are willing to put up with just to get that one!) is that it does not track.
And now a company wants to buy it that has a ... let's say not toooooo awesome trac
Laugh (Score:1)
with Apple a top contender to buy DuckDuckGo.
If you can't corrupt them buy them.
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Yes. DuckDuckGo bought by Apple due to increasing popularity due to DDG's privacy stance. DDG's privacy stance immediately undermined by being owned by Apple.
It may not be as bad as being acquired by the NSA, but let's face it, no matter how much Apple tries to suggest that they won't change anything... they're going to change things.
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Except there is no evidence that Apple isn't looking to buy them. Soulskill was just making things up.
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*is* looking to buy them, of course.
Umm, bullshit. (Score:5, Informative)
Their success is beginning to fuel speculation about an acquisition, with Apple a top contender to buy DuckDuckGo.
Except that there is no such speculation. No where in the link does it say that there are acquisition talks. It is just someone's opinion that Apple should buy them.
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Except that there is no such speculation.
Well, there is now!
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Soulskill a journalist? You best be joking...
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As far as I can tell, DuckDuckGo is a private company and so not vulnerable to a hostile takeover. If they were, it would kind of defeat their purpose. The second they got bought out by the likes of Apple, privacy would go down the shitter.
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No, Soulskill is full of shit. VentureBeat is not claiming that Apple is looking to acquire DDG. It's an article making a case for why that person thinks they should buy DDG.
ddg.gg (Score:3, Informative)
Don't forget their short url ddg.gg its as easy to type as google.com or bing.com
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DuckDuckGo, please don't sell. (Score:2)
To anyone. Certainly not to anyone who's got such varied motives as Apple.
Providing good, untracked, unbubbled search is its own worthy end; please let's not distort it by bending it to serve the latest iFad or getting all wrapped up in some specific ecosystem. How about we continue to build on open standards and make stuff that's useful for everyone? Apple used to understand that (so did Google) but the whole point is that their like can't be trusted at this point.
Anyway DuckDuckGo has been my default e
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You should read the article. It doesn't say what Soulskill is claiming.
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I'm pretty sure they can't - as in if Apple bought them Google would shut it down.
DuckDuckGo is just using Google in the end, after all. And I'm sure Google's agreements with Apple would preclude Apple from starting up a similar service using Google's search results. (Remember, Google still pays Apple a few billion dollars to be the default search engine).
Anyhow, doesn't iOS offer DDG as a search engine option besides Google and Yahoo
How can we block the share button (Score:3)
and yes i do use duckduckgo its not as good as google but anything past the first page on all the search engines is useless garbage IMO and for my search that's the only opinion that matters
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Who's behind DDG? (Score:5, Interesting)
Do we have any independent way of verifying that DDG is not an NSA honeypot, or is this another case of Internet hipsters declaring their own set of cultural prejudices to be TRVTH because they say it is?
Re:Who's behind DDG? (Score:5, Interesting)
There's money to be made without doing targeted advertising. You can have "dumb" ads that simply try to match the right ads with the right search terms, without regard for who the user is or what information you might be able to collect about them. Google used to operate that way, before they realized they could track users and thus charge more for their ads since they were better targeting them at specific users. DDG was founded for the sole purpose of rolling back the clock on that sort of thinking.
Re:Who's behind DDG? (Score:5, Interesting)
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"Trust no one." --Fox Mulder :P
Re: Who's behind DDG? (Score:3)
I've always wondered that. It would certainly be an efficient method for the NSA to track searches of people who are trying to hide. Trust is such a fascinating issue, and it comes down to this:
Do you trust, say, Google, who have stated privacy policies, some track record of resisting the NSA (likely unsuccessfully) or the dude who started DuckDuckGo, Gabriel Weinberg (http://ye.gg/) who kinda looks friendly and geeky, but could literally be anyone.
Seriously, it's kind of nuts that the best tool available f
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One test would be to enter a number of DDG searches using trigger words that might catch the NSA's interest. If you get "swatted," my point is proven.
Nobody would actually want to try that, though.
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Yandex. Russian.
privacy vs convenience (Score:1)
I don't know what happened to Yahoo numbers when Firefox switched, but I expect they went up at least a little.
Yahoo's search results are not as good as Google's. When my Google search includes the word "binding" the results bring up program language bindings. On Yahoo, they bring up a lot of weird things I have no interest in.
I have kept Yahoo as my default search engine with the idea that if they get enough traffic, they will get trained and some day be as good as Google.
But this is a silly thought. Googl
startpage (Score:5, Interesting)
>"DuckDuckGo, the privacy-oriented search engine"
Actually, I think of startpage.com as the privacy-oriented search engine. Same results as Google, but no Google tracking and it is NOT hosted in the USA. I have been using it for years now.
https://classic.startpage.com/... [startpage.com]
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I also detest the recent change. But some things to note- unlike Google, you can go into settings and change it right back to the old theme. And most importantly, still none of that annoying Google logo animation ***t, ever.
Should we trust Apple? (Score:1)
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Well, Apple has been consistent about what it sells and it is not data to aggregators.
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Fuck google's business model.
Re:Should we trust Apple? (Score:5, Informative)
Fuck google's business model.
Really? Keep in mind that without it Google search wouldn't exist... and neither would DDG, because most of DDG's sources are other engines that are also funded by advertising. Odds are that without Google's business model you'd also be seeing a lot more, and a lot more intrusive ads. You are probably too young to remember what the commercial side of the web looked like in the mid to late 90s, but I'm sure you've seen the "one weird trick" sites with pages and pages to present a small amount of content buried in mountains of ads. That was pretty much where we were headed until targeted advertising came along.
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Boohoo. The world without google. THE HORROR!
The world without web search, or even the pre-search model of curated indexes (Yahoo!, also based on targeted advertising, though of a less effective form)? You're either trolling, or stupid.
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Fuck google's business model.
Really? Keep in mind that without it Google search wouldn't exist...
Google Search existed before Google settled on their business model...
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And if you are doing nefarious business, Apple plainly states they need a proper court warrant to turn over any data.
The best solution would be a client-side engine (Score:1)
I think in an ideal solution to privacy-friendly search would involve a product. Why can't search, mapping software, and similar be localized? Why shouldn't I simply connect to my own personal server which contains all the information needed to do the search locally? In theory all you'd need to do is get a couple terabytes (probably significantly less really) and sync the databases these search engines are built off. Your actual search can then be done locally without ever sending search terms to a third pa
I switched because of results (Score:2)
And if they see a NEW surge, it's because... (Score:2)
...StartPage/IXQuick just "upgraded" and thereby royally fucked up their interface (now requires javascript AND the search box no longer accepts paste, at least for me). I'd preferred StartPage, but have now switched to DuckDuckGo in sheer desperation for a search engine that doesn't argue with me, never mind tracking me... that's almost a secondary issue in the face of usability, or lack thereof.
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[goes to check]
Looks like IXQuick/Startpage has reverted to the old layout (that was quick) which would explain why today it again works fine without javascript. The 'upgraded' page quite definitely did not. Plus it was hard on aging eyes. Fucking pastels everyone has suddenly gotten into...
DDG used to require JS to work, but doesn't now.
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And I always use a link on my menu bar, never a toolbar -- interesting how user method changes perception like that.
3B a YEAR? (Score:2)
3 billion searches a year works out to 95/second by my estimations. Which is laughably insignificant. Why on earth would Apple be interested in that?
XKCD (Score:1)
Incognito/Private Window/etc (Score:2)
Then your browser will not give your search agent of much of a chance to track you, and in most cases you have the source code to verify that. Search engines don't bother to track by IP because it's both unreliable and you will likely be pissed off if you see ads which are too relevant when you take such precautions.
Presumably most of your searches are not privacy sensitive and you might even appreciate the ads that show what you are looking for right at the moment. And when you are seriously looking into