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Steve Kooyman – Privacy Review - DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo (DDG) is a search engine that differentiates itself by its privacy settings in comparison to larger services like Google, Yahoo and Bing, which leverage stored searches and tracking to facilitate refined results that lead to personalized, targeted ads. According to Wikipedia (Wikipedia: DuckDuckGo, n.d.), "DuckDuckGo distinguishes itself from other search engines by not profiling its users and by deliberately showing all users the same search results for a given search term." Like Google and others, DuckDuckGo can be accessed on its home page () or as a selectable result in browsers like Safari or Firefox. Though DuckDuckGo has been available for several years, it saw a surge in usage in 2013 after the Edward Snowden Wikileaks story broke (Sullivan, 2013) as well as in late 2014 when it was announced as an available option in Apple's Safari browser on Mac desktops and iOS devices (Wikipedia: DuckDuckGo, n.d.). To say that DuckDuckGo's privacy policy is refreshing is an understatement, especially when compared to Yahoo's policy of "gibberish" cited in last week's lecture (Bastek, 2015). Written by founder Gabriel Weinberg (complete with attestation at the end), the DuckDuckGo "Privacy" page boldly states in its header, "We don't collect or share personal information. That's our privacy policy in a nutshell" (Weinberg, 2014). What follows is a direct, informational narrative with helpful links and a call to privacy "action", not the typical dense or stale legal documents bent more on obfuscation and corporate rights protection. Reinforcing their alignment with personal versus government rights, DuckDuckGo even supplies links to their own humorous (and sobering) privacy guides on the dangers of tracking (donttrack.us) and limiting nature of filter bubbles (dontbubble.us).There is nothing in the policy to make me reconsider how I use the service. In fact, due to the helpful nature and overview of "tricks of the search trade", as it were, I feel more knowledgeable about the benefits of DuckDuckGo and the risks I take using engines like Google. Specifically, the policy describes the idea of search leakage, explaining how search terms and IP addresses are sent along to sites in your header information that can identify you. "When you do that private search, not only can those other sites know your search terms, but they can also know that you searched it. It is this combination of available information about you that raises privacy concerns" (Weinberg, 2014). DuckDuckGo confidently explains how its application redirects information so that the search terms are not included. In this way, the company can receive ad compensation and not reveal additional information about the user. It's not a business model that will generate large, quick returns; more likely, measurable gains from steady adoption and positive press are the plan for DuckDuckGo.The policy definitely goes far enough to protect the privacy of personal information and is tilted far away from government's rights to search and browser data. As its calling card and differentiator, I would be surprised if DuckDuckGo was not truly doing all they could to continually protect search data from being collected by service providers or the government. As Weinberg reiterates in the DuckDuckGo privacy policy's "Search History" section, "DuckDuckGo takes the approach to not collect any personal information. The decisions of whether and how to comply with law enforcement requests, whether and how to anonymize data, and how to best protect your information from hackers are out of our hands. Your search history is safe with us because it cannot be tied to you in any way" (Weinberg, 2014). Other sections in the policy spell out what information is collected and not collected, as well as shared. In the "Information Collected" section, for example, DuckDuckGo explains in detail how personally identifiable data is removed from saved searches, and also explains what they do with it. They also explain how the code they add to some eCommerce site results (like Amazon) helps them earn small commission when a purchase is made, but again, that no external sites dare involved and no identifiable data is available. Most heartening in the "Information Collected" section is how they extend their privacy concerns to customer feedback: "If you give us feedback, it may be stored in our email. However, you can give anonymous feedback (by not entering your email or other personal info on the feedback form)" (Weinberg, 2013).There are concerns in the blogosphere that DuckDuckGo may be creating an illusion of privacy, especially when the government is involved. Ether Rag (Woolridge, 2013) applies available information (circa 2013) and some hypothetical scenarios to remind readers that DuckDuckGo is subject to the same potential government interventions as other online tech companies: standard wiretaps, deep integration/splitter feeds of their data, certificate sharing of encryption/SSL, and even hacking. It is difficult for me to believe that DuckDuckGo could join the ranks of the other search engines who publicly denied working with NSA but were outed in the PRISM spying documents (Stern, 2013), but there is always the reality that the government will make a request DuckDuckGo can't refuse. Even so, I am far more likely to side with DuckDuckGo now than any other search engine and support its ongoing efforts. In conclusion, DuckDuckGo is a small but unique search engine looking to build up its user base with personal engagement and a transparent operations mode around customer privacy. By creating a privacy statement that reads more like a mission statement, DuckDuckGo educates readers on challenges to privacy while illuminating them on its resolve to remain "the search engine that doesn't track you." ReferencesBastek, N. (2015). Unit 6: Privacy in a digital world [Lecture notes]. Retrieved from , J. (2013, June 7). Dissecting big tech's denial of involvement in NSA's PRISM spying program. ABC News. Retrieved from , G. (2012, April 11). We don't collect or share personal information. That's our privacy policy in a nutshell [Privacy statement]. Retrieved from : DuckDuckGo. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from , B. (2013, July 11). Duck Duck Go: Illusion of privacy [Web log comment]. Retrieved from ................
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