17/10/2022
With all the current advertising you could believe that DuckDuckGo (DDG) is a new kid on the search block, however it was founded by Gabriel Weinberg and launched back in February 29, 2008, and no it is not developed in China, its owned by Gabriel Weinberg in the US and has a number of investors.
DDG is a relatively safe search engine and you can use it without compromising your security. As with any other browser, DDG remains susceptible to viruses, malware, and other online threats. As with most internet security down to the user to take precautions.
In May 2022 it was reported that the DDG search engine is powered by the Microsoft’s Bing search engine, and alleged “an agreement with Microsoft includes stipulations that DDG not block LinkedIn and Bing advertising domains”.
Advantages
Does not store the IP addresses of its users and It uses cookies only when needed
Does not log any user information, only keyword / phrases related information
Same results for all users that entered the same keyword or phrase
No data share - users search terms with the websites that they visit as a result of their search
Includes data from a compilation of over 400 sources, such as Bing, Wolfram Alpha, Wikipedia, Yahoo! as well as its own web crawler, the DDG.
It relies on many open-source technologies and projects to provide you with private search results
“Burn Bar” lets you delete your browsing data and all cookies from your device on session close
One aspect I like is DDG will favour HTTPS sites
Disadvantages.
Sill relies on advertising to generate revenue, however the ads aren't personalised to the individual user.
Does not include any protection from viruses, malware, ransomware, or other internet nasty’s.
Only limited “local search result”
Not as many services as other larger search engines
It has to be said, how may relevant results will you get – yes Google tracks Google uses and so on, but it still remains that still in 2022 Google maintains to dominates the search engine market share, averaging an 92% market share worldwide – There are over 100 search engines and directories the search market is worth in excess of $114bn (2022). The second most used search is Bing 3.19% DDG is 0.64%
It seems Google remains the most used search in the world.
