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So now I also have to trust Microsoft before clicking on a DDG ad. Based on a pinky promise not to use my IP address + User-Agent + whatever fingerprint they ma

So now I also have to trust Microsoft before clicking on a DDG ad. Based on a pinky promise not to use my IP address + User-Agent + whatever fingerprint they make?

Aeolun 4y ago
Why’d you even click on an ad in the first place if you are worried about that?
- freediver 4y ago
  They wouldn't, and DDG has a convenient way to disable ads which I am sure many users take advantage of. Still, millions of users do click those ads, because if nobody did, DDG would not exist. A less tech savvy user, who is probably DDGs main target, came on the promise of privacy and does click those ads and is also being tracked around the web by Microsoft if they use DDG browser (from what I understand). This is less than ideal from the standpoint of "privacy simplified" promise, but really no other way around it when selling ads is your business model.
  - allarm 4y ago
    I wonder how many “less tech savvy” users use ddg, because in my experience people who actually care about their security are quite tech savvy as a rule - not necessarily in IT though. While the others use a default search engine/browser/whatever.
    - freediver 4y ago
      Those kind of people usually do not click on ads, have ads disabled and/or use ad blockers. But because they are tech savvy, they the the ones friends and family ask what browser/search engine to use, so you end up with 20 more less tech savvy people on the platform, and they are probably the ones that end up clicking on ads (because, again, DDG is making a ton of money with that)
derefr 4y ago
I mean, of course you have to trust a party X with your browsing fingerprint if party X is involved in serving the URL you go to when clicking on the link. What did you want—for the URL to go straight to the destination page with no redirect through an ad-network analytics provider, making your impression invisible to the network and thus unable to be costed against the advertiser? Why would any ad network even bother to participate in such a scheme? How would they make money? Prepayment for an arbitrary guess at predicted click-through count?

So now I also have to trust Microsoft before clicking on a DDG ad. Based on a pinky promise not to use my IP address + User-Agent + whatever fingerprint they make?

Aeolun 4y ago

Why’d you even click on an ad in the first place if you are worried about that?

freediver 4y ago
They wouldn't, and DDG has a convenient way to disable ads which I am sure many users take advantage of. Still, millions of users do click those ads, because if nobody did, DDG would not exist. A less tech savvy user, who is probably DDGs main target, came on the promise of privacy and does click those ads and is also being tracked around the web by Microsoft if they use DDG browser (from what I understand). This is less than ideal from the standpoint of "privacy simplified" promise, but really no other way around it when selling ads is your business model.
- allarm 4y ago
  I wonder how many “less tech savvy” users use ddg, because in my experience people who actually care about their security are quite tech savvy as a rule - not necessarily in IT though. While the others use a default search engine/browser/whatever.
  - freediver 4y ago
    Those kind of people usually do not click on ads, have ads disabled and/or use ad blockers. But because they are tech savvy, they the the ones friends and family ask what browser/search engine to use, so you end up with 20 more less tech savvy people on the platform, and they are probably the ones that end up clicking on ads (because, again, DDG is making a ton of money with that)

derefr 4y ago

I mean, of course you have to trust a party X with your browsing fingerprint if party X is involved in serving the URL you go to when clicking on the link. What did you want—for the URL to go straight to the destination page with no redirect through an ad-network analytics provider, making your impression invisible to the network and thus unable to be costed against the advertiser? Why would any ad network even bother to participate in such a scheme? How would they make money? Prepayment for an arbitrary guess at predicted click-through count?