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DuckDuckGo Browser Allows Microsoft to Track Users Thanks to Confidential Agreement

May 26, 2022 By Sven Taylor — 23 Comments
DuckDuckGo browser microsoft trackers

DuckDuckGo seems to be in hot water with its users, this time over a clear and intentional violation of privacy. The blowback has been swift with many in the privacy community condemning DuckDuckGo’s apparent hypocrisy by claiming to be private while exposing its users to Microsoft trackers.

This specific issue has to do with DuckDuckGo’s “privacy” browser for Android and iOS (not the search engine).

A security researcher named Zach Edwards recently published his findings that show how DuckDuckGo’s browser is intentionally allowing trackers for Microsoft domains.

You can capture data within the DuckDuckGo so-called private browser on a website like Facebook's https://t.co/u8W44qvsqF and you'll see that DDG does NOT stop data flows to Microsoft's Linkedin domains or their Bing advertising domains.

iOS + Android proof:
👀🫥😮‍💨🤡⛈️⚖️💸💸💸 pic.twitter.com/u3Q30KIs7e

— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022

We have previously discussed DuckDuckGo at length in our guide on private search engines. In that guide, I noted how DuckDuckGo partners with Bing to deliver search results and advertising revenue. It seems this basic model/partnership is bleeding over into the realm of browsers where trackers can be used for targeted advertisements.

You can see the full thread from Zach Edwards explaining the situation in more detail here.

DuckDuckGo’s Gabriel Weinberg responds

In response to Edwards’ thread, DuckDuckGo’s CEO Gabriel Weinberg explained the policy. He clarified on Twitter how this was intentional and due to a “search syndication agreement” with Microsoft. Weinberg also claimed to be “working tirelessly” to get this policy changed to improve user privacy.

For non-search tracker blocking (eg in our browser), we block most third-party trackers. Unfortunately our Microsoft search syndication agreement prevents us from doing more to Microsoft-owned properties. However, we have been continually pushing and expect to be doing more soon.

— Gabriel Weinberg (@yegg) May 23, 2022

This is a good attempt to mitigate the controversy, but we are left with one question.

Why was there no disclosure that DuckDuckGo users are being exposed to Microsoft trackers?

Weinberg again claimed that they were prevented from any disclosure due to the confidential nature of the agreement with Microsoft.

Our syndication contract has broad confidentiality requirements, and the specific requirement documents themselves are additionally explicitly marked confidential.

— Gabriel Weinberg (@yegg) May 23, 2022

There was also an interesting conversation on Hacker News here about the situation. You can see Weinberg attempting to mitigate concerns under the username “yegg” in the comments section.

Recall that Weinberg rose to fame by creating a social network called Names Database that collected the real names and addresses of its users. He then sold the Names Database and all the user data to Classmates.com for “approximately $10 million in cash” in March 2006.

Looking at DuckDuckGo the search engine, it sources primarily from Bing and has had a close advertising relationship with Microsoft for many years. Perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised that the “privacy browser” is also closely connected to Microsoft.

About Sven Taylor

Sven Taylor is a digital privacy expert who has been writing about privacy and security online since 2016. With a passion for digital privacy and online freedom, he created RestorePrivacy to provide you with honest, useful, and up-to-date information about online privacy, security, and related topics.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Restorer

    June 7, 2022

    At least Epic Privacy Browser doesn’t hide that it whitelist Yahoo! ads as part of its search partnership. In fact, Epic also provides paid, ad-free private search (Yandex) as an alternative.

    I wonder if Microsoft white listing affects only DuckDuckGo browser or DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar as well.

    Reply
  2. yoinky sploinky

    June 1, 2022

    https://yewtu.be/watch?v=mWyQeqi30dc

    Thoughts?

    Reply
    • BoBeX

      June 2, 2022

      @yoinky sploinky
      It was an interesting point of view and as had some valid points. The creator doesn’t address all the points raised by Sven (which is fair enough, the video wasn’t intended to be a response to this article). The issues raised here are the contractual arrangement between the parties and the confidentiality clauses that prevent DDG from being fully open with users.

      My view is that these matters are a breach of trust by a privacy oriented tool. I believe DDG has made a mistake here. I believe they need to fix it, say sorry, and be completely open in the future. (It maybe the case that DDG was under pressure to secure funding – but I don’t know.)

      Without intending to raise alarm with out any evidence (being clear here – I have no evidence or reasonable cause to point a finger), it maybe interesting to do some investigation into other privacy focused search engines who use Bing as a partner. If MS can pressure DDG in negotiations I don’t see why they would seek to pressure other partners in a similar way. Just saying…

      The link was interesting. I liked the video enough to check out some of the other content on the channel. If I wanted more information about FF I would definitely look there.

      One video the creator has posted recently looks into the Arkenfox user.js template. What was interesting was that the creator has created his own template based on Arkenfox wiki. It doesn’t look to hard to create these. (The template the creator has provided would not be consistent with the advise here on RP.) But it is a good idea.

      Another interesting matter arising was that the creator said he was planning to produce a video taking a deep dive into customising Ublock Origin. My experience is that attempting to customise Ublock Origin starting with the manual is challenging but a good ‘how to’ video makes it quiet approachable.

      If you follow that channel and notice the video is up please post the link.

      Regards,

      BoBeX

      Reply
      • yoinky sploinky

        June 4, 2022

        @BoBeX You raise an interesting point about Microsoft pressuring their partners in negotiations.

        It reminds me of Ecosia, another Bing-based search engine that claims to be private. In reality it makes some concessions with regards to said privacy.

        https://libreddit.spike.codes/r/privacy/comments/cvhfyw/noble_goals_but_ecosia_falls_short_in_their/

        Could it be that they made those concessions in order to secure funding from Microsoft? And are they also under a NDA where they cannot complain about Bing potentially tracking Ecosia users?

        Reply
  3. Mike

    June 1, 2022

    After embracing censorship downranking websites considered “Russian disinformation” despite DDG CEO Gabriel Weinberg bragging on his Twitter page about DuckDuckGo not censoring websites contrasting it to Google prior to doing so, the chickens now come home to roost.

    https://www.techradar.com/news/duckduckgo-in-hot-water-over-hidden-tracking-agreement-with-microsoft

    Reply
  4. BoBeX

    May 29, 2022

    Hi RP Community,

    For me I believe privacy focused companies need to be above reproach.
    In this case DDG appeared to be cognisant of this, they signed a contract. It wasn’t done mistakenly nor was it an oversite.

    The lack of UBlock Origin meant I didn’t use the app much anyway.
    The Apps gotta go.
    I like the comments noting Brave is now available for Andriod and will be giving it a go.

    For me the search engine is going too.
    I was never happy with the search results anyway.

    Back over to the Best Browsers Guide for me.

    Regards,

    BoBeX

    Reply
  5. Al Mehmet

    May 29, 2022

    What the F…???? That is very unfortunate.
    That’s why I have trust issues.

    Reply
  6. Mailbale

    May 28, 2022

    Meh. So what? If you want to block trackers you need something like ublock origin or Adguard. Relying on a browser, especially some Chromium mod, to block everything is false hope.

    Reply
  7. Bronco

    May 28, 2022

    Unfortunately, no big news here for me. DDG has always been a compromise between the privacy search engine and what Google is offering. So every their product, including the browser, shouldn’t be treated differently.

    If you want to see some basic testing for trackers, research websites’ addresses for starters, here: https://themarkup.org/blacklight

    You could see that many so called privacy companies are fillled with – often aggressive -trackers in their websites. Some popular VPN services especially. That should raise some concern, and you should research carefully before you choose your privacy service or apps.

    Reply
  8. Benjamin

    May 27, 2022

    I stopped using their search engine when they censored results from certain Russian news sites. It contradicts what they have said all the time – that they didn’t censor anything. The trust in them blew away – and now this. They are so full of BS. What can you expect of an American firm? That’s why I would never use anything that originates from the US.

    Reply
  9. Mike

    May 27, 2022

    @Sven does this mean you will be downrating DDG’s browser for the site’s recommended browser page?

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor

      May 27, 2022

      Hey Mike I will be mentioning this situation in future updates on the secure browser guide, which will still list DDG browser as an option (currently further down the list at #6). After all, even with these developments, DDG browser is still much better than Chrome.

      Reply
  10. glix

    May 26, 2022

    Damn. Too bad. All this time, for some reason, I thought DDG was open source (I’m using it from the desktop here, not on mobile) but it isn’t. Which led me to alternativeto. One feature I consider indispensable at this point is “bangs;” though there may be others, the only open source search that supported this (and worked, though not at the moment for some reason) is this thing called Andisearch (https://andisearch.com/). Anyone know anything about this?

    Reply
  11. Lada

    May 26, 2022

    https://swisscows.com/ ?

    Reply
    • Sven Taylor

      May 26, 2022

      Again, this article pertains to the browser, not the search engine. For a discussion on private search engines, go here.

      Reply
    • Mitch

      May 27, 2022

      Is it serious enough that I should be uninstalling my DDG android app? What would you recommend as an alternative app?

      Reply
      • CommsTech

        May 27, 2022

        I just switched from DDG browser to Brave Android browser.

        Reply
      • Mailbale

        May 28, 2022

        Firefox Focus. Regular FF on Android is a mess. Focus has become what FF should be. You can access about:config in Focus now.

        Reply
  12. Where is truth

    May 26, 2022

    I stopped respecting DuckDuckGo when I found out that they actually get their results from other places, for example Yahoo. The problem is that they do not advertise that.

    I and others believe that they (DuckDuckGo) purposefully misrepresent themselves.

    Is Swisscows better? On their website they only mention an index of their own, however, other sources say that search results there originate primarily from Bing.

    Where is truth.

    Reply
  13. John

    May 26, 2022

    I didn’t know this. Thanks Even. Good thing I pretty much only use Brave Browser.

    Reply
  14. Zac

    May 26, 2022

    So what mobile browser is best for IOS now then…

    Firefox is nowhere near as customisable on IOS, Should I go with Brave?

    Reply
    • Mailbale

      May 28, 2022

      Browsers beside Safari on iOS are more or less skins since Apple won’t diverge from webkit rendering, which neither FF or chromium use. So, no, you won’t have any significant customization beyond what can be done with Safari. Best way around this is stay with Safari and use the (Firefox) Focus extension, in the Apple store. Then you get a lot of customization, and better privacy.

      Reply
  15. Scythian

    May 26, 2022

    Jeremiah 13:23 comes to mind:
    “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good — you who are accustomed to doing evil.”

    Reply

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