Keep Going With DuckDuckGo

I noticed news this week saying DuckDuckGo, known for its privacy, was found in an audit to allow some level of Microsoft tracking. On the surface, that sounds antithetical to or hypocritical of the search company. But I’m not sure to what extent either is the case. Otherwise, I think DuckDuckGo is still one of the best search engines worth recommending.

The timing of the news, with its eyebrow-raising activity about DuckDuckGo, is a bit unfortunate for me. I was planning to blog about the search engine in general since I’ve used and benefitted from it for many years. (Note: I don’t use the browser or extension.)

DuckDuckGo search results are very good, and I always find what I need. Plus, the searches are more private than just about other search engine I can think of. The company is known as privacy focused; I appreciate that.

So despite the recent news, I will certainly keep enjoying DuckDuckGo. And I recommend you use it too.

As for concerns over the Microsoft tracking issue, it seems to be less of a problem than what some reactions might lead one to think. Paul Thurrott seems to have a fair understanding of the situation,

“Given that DuckDuckGo is transparent about its behavior with regard to its Microsoft partnership, I’m not sure this deserves the level of outrage you can see in the Twitter comments. But if you’re concerned about online privacy, it’s important to know about this and what your options are. And it appears that with DuckDuckGo, yes, Microsoft is “tracking” you. But you are anonymous, which I feel lives up to the letter of its privacy claims.”

-Paul Thurrott

Although DuckDuckGo is allowing Microsoft trackers — whether by choice or by force — I still think the company is trustworthy and transparent, albeit the poor optics from the news taints an otherwise winning track record of not tracking people.

What search engine do you prefer? Have you tried DuckDuckGo, Bing, or anything other than Google search? If so, what are your results?