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My main problem with DDG is that there's no way to be sure they actually respect their users' privacy as they claim to. Ideally, services like theirs would be
by pmoriarty 6y ago
My main problem with DDG is that there's no way to be sure they actually respect their users' privacy as they claim to.
Ideally, services like theirs would be continuously audited by respectable, trusted organizations like the EFF.. multiple such organizations even.
Then I'd have at least some reason to believe their claims of not collecting data about me.
As it stands, I only have their word for it.. which in this day and age is pretty worthless.
That said, I'd still much rather use DDG, who at least pay lip service to privacy, than sites like Google or Facebook, who are openly contemptuous of it.
At the very least it sends a message to these organizations that privacy is still valued, and they'd lose out by not trying to accommodate the privacy needs of their users to some extent.
- dangus 6y agoI don’t even care about the privacy. (Well, I do, but in this context I have no reasonable way to ensure it) What I do care about is trust-building and monopolistic practices. That, to me, is a great reason to use DDG instead of Google or even Bing.
- cpeterso 6y agoI also prefer DDG's user interface over Google's. And DDG's !bang search shortcuts. DDG has been my default search engine for years and its results are good enough for me 95% of the time. I only need to use Google as a fallback when searching for niche technical information or "needles in haystacks".
- jschwartzi 6y agoEven then, the Google results are usually terrible. I haven't used Google as a fallback in about a year because every time I tried it they couldn't find what I was looking for either. Or they did something atrocious like changing my search terms for me.
- spinach 6y agoFacebook and Google are huge, global companies where their main product is free, and yet they aren't a charity. The only way to be mega-rich and offer something free is to be shady and manipulative with user's data. Exploiting privacy is their business model. They aren't gonna respect it. Being super financially successful off free products and services is not a recipe for an honest, citizen respecting company.
- Dahoon 6y agoDDG search costs the same as google search.