“This wasn’t my first extended usage of DuckDuckGo, a privacy-optimized alternative to the omnipresent Alphabet, Inc., search engine that long ago became a verb. DuckDuckGo prides itself on not tracking users and started getting attention after Edward Snowden’s revelations of widespread government internet surveillance,” Rob Pegoraro writes for Yahoo Finance. “Now, that non-Google search sits at the center of my browsing experience on one of the computers I use most often.”
“Google’s advantage is supposed to be its personalized search, which DuckDuckGo lacks — you can’t even create a user account there,” Pegoraro writes. “But for everyday queries, that doesn’t matter. That’s been my daily reality on my iPad, where I set DuckDuckGo as the default a couple of years ago, and it’s persisted on my Windows laptop since my more recent promotion of the site to default-search status there.”
“Going on this Google diet, has not, however, meant saying goodbye to the company’s services. Not only does it remain the default in my copies of Chrome, its ability to constrain a search to specific dates remains a huge advantage. DuckDuckGo can show results from the last day, week or month, but that’s it—making it unhelpful for finding something I wrote in 2011 but not later pieces on the same subject. For that I have to return to Google (or use Bing),” Pegoraro writes. “But giving some of your search business to somebody besides the No. 1 firm still holds value. In a world of security vulnerabilities and data breaches, you can help secure your data by not keeping too much of it in any one place.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you haven’t already, give DuckDuckGo a try today!
Apple allows users to easily switch to the privacy-respecting DuckDuckGo search engine on Safari:
macOS:
1. Click Safari in the top menu bar.
2. Select Preferences.
3. Click on Search.
4. Select DuckDuckGo.iOS:
1. Open Settings.
2. Navigate and tap on Safari.
3. Tap on Search Engine.
4. Select DuckDuckGo.SEE ALSO:
Why I switched from Google to DuckDuckGo – July 4, 2015
Why Apple should buy DuckDuckGo – June 19, 2015
DuckDuckGo has grown 600% since Apple made it a search option – and Snowden’s revelations – June 17, 2015
Apple’s default search engine: Is DuckDuckGo next in line? – March 4, 2015
Microsoft, Yahoo vie to become Apple Safari’s default search option – November 26, 2014
Apple adds DuckDuckGo option to iOS 8 Safari, ‘a search engine that doesn’t track users’ – September 18, 2014
Apple slams Google in Safari 7.1 release notes: ‘Adds DuckDuckGo, a search engine that doesn’t track users’ – September 18, 2014
It’s time for Apple to buy DuckDuckGo – May 30, 2014
I’ve converted my PC loving, Android using, Google apologist business partner to DuckDuckGo. He is finally seeing the errors of his ways!
“Now, about those Samsung phones you keep buying…”
What’s it like to use a search engine other than DuckDuckGo? It’s been so long I’ve forgotten.
I switched to DDG several years ago and have used Google search ca. once a year when I couldn’t find what I was looking for on DDG. More often than not Google also could not find it as well.
I never regretted the switch
Same here. When I happen to see a Google page on another computer I’m amazed at how full of ads it is.
Startpage.com works well with DuckDuckGo. If you ever want to see alternative Google results, you can “Bang” into Startpage.com using the !s or !sp bang.
Note: using the !g bang is like going to Google directly!
Startpage delivers mainly Google search results in privacy, and DuckDuckGo delivers mainly Yahoo search results in privacy. So much better to use one of these privacy options rather than going directly to Google or Yahoo.
I tried Startpage.com and DDG and went back to Google as I got more search results (notwithstanding the ads from Google). Bummer.
I’ve used DDG a lot. It’s the default for my Firefox browser.
But it seems we’re taking it on faith this is really private.
How does a company prove that its search software and results are protected?
I’ve read interviews with the guy behind DDG, and he seems okay, but his premise seems to be, “You can trust us. We’re not Google.”
It’s a great experience, just like a sit that provides excellent moderation and protection from online bullies. Like MDN used to do.