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Privacy is not binary. There are degrees of it and it's dependent on context. The problem here is that DDG promotes itself as a highly private service and at t

Privacy is not binary. There are degrees of it and it's dependent on context. The problem here is that DDG promotes itself as a highly private service and at the same time makes a deal to share tracking data with (arguably) one of the worst privacy offenders. This makes them substantially less privacy-friendly than they make it seem.

0des 4y ago
Either something is private or it is not. What you suggest is that most situations favor the latter.
- cassianoleal 4y ago
  The only thing that's 100% private are your own thoughts, as long as you don't share them. Everything else fits in a gradient.
env123 4y ago
With respect to Microsoft being one of the worst privacy offenders, can you please expand on this? Why can't you just unlink your Microsoft login and use offline account if you're using Windows, or use ad blockers? Even if you somehow see an ad aimed at you, why can't it be in your power to just ignore them? Think in the terms of "I'll only look up a product/services if I have a functional need for it" rather than fall to the trap of "just because I have lots of money doesn't mean I have to spend it today"? A lot of times by the way if I see something I fancy, I'd end up looking at Amazon and find the best product at affordable cost, so I don't really click on any ads. If I recall even, I NEVER click on an ad, I'd go as far that I ignored sponsored ads in Amazon, so what's the problem with ads?
- cassianoleal 4y ago
  I was talking about Microsoft being an offender in general, not necessarily anything specific to this deal. That said, each new datapoint a large data broker like Microsoft gets adds that much more to their ability to deanonymise you, regardless of whether you're logged in to any of their services or not. This can happen more directly (e.g. shared, long-lived cookies), or indirectly via techniques like fingerprinting.

0des 4y ago

Either something is private or it is not. What you suggest is that most situations favor the latter.

cassianoleal 4y ago
The only thing that's 100% private are your own thoughts, as long as you don't share them. Everything else fits in a gradient.

env123 4y ago

With respect to Microsoft being one of the worst privacy offenders, can you please expand on this? Why can't you just unlink your Microsoft login and use offline account if you're using Windows, or use ad blockers? Even if you somehow see an ad aimed at you, why can't it be in your power to just ignore them? Think in the terms of "I'll only look up a product/services if I have a functional need for it" rather than fall to the trap of "just because I have lots of money doesn't mean I have to spend it today"? A lot of times by the way if I see something I fancy, I'd end up looking at Amazon and find the best product at affordable cost, so I don't really click on any ads. If I recall even, I NEVER click on an ad, I'd go as far that I ignored sponsored ads in Amazon, so what's the problem with ads?

cassianoleal 4y ago
I was talking about Microsoft being an offender in general, not necessarily anything specific to this deal. That said, each new datapoint a large data broker like Microsoft gets adds that much more to their ability to deanonymise you, regardless of whether you're logged in to any of their services or not. This can happen more directly (e.g. shared, long-lived cookies), or indirectly via techniques like fingerprinting.