Free new tools can stop companies from tracking you online

 

DuckDuckGo, the manufacturer of search engine and browser technology, cannot track you online, it is sharing data collected about online trackers with other companies so that they can also protect your privacy.

The company said on Thursday that it has begun sharing a data set called Tracker Radar, which details the 5326 Internet domains used by 1,727 companies and organizations that track you online. The data can be used by anyone, and browser maker Vivaldi said on Tuesday that it has begun to do so.

Gabriel Weinberg, the founder and CEO of DuckDuckGo, said in an exclusive interview: "There are other people using it, including a browser that is more widely used than Vivaldi."

Data and its use reflect the increasing importance of protecting privacy. The online advertising industry is one of the biggest privacy invaders. It builds people’s image so that ads can be targeted more effectively. Apple has long sought better privacy protection. Now, even the largest online advertising companies, such as Google and Facebook, have made it a priority.

There is evidence that we do more than complain about privacy. A Cisco survey found that about 32% of us have taken some measures to protect our online privacy. This may include the use of browsers that block tracking, such as Apple Safari, Brave Software’s Brave, Mozilla’s Firefox, Microsoft’s Edge or DuckDuckGo mobile browsers for Android phones and iPhones. There are also some browser extensions, such as Ghostery, Privacy Badger and DuckDuckGo's own options.

Encourage privacy

Weinberg revealed that people downloaded DuckDuckGo's browser and browser extensions 20 million times in 2019, and now they are downloading about 100,000 times a day.

DuckDuckGo is a profitable company with 83 employees. So far this year, it has powered 3.3 billion searches, and the company is trying to profit from this trend. DuckDuckGo’s search results show ads provided by Microsoft, but these ads are based on your search terms and not on other online activities or collecting personal information.

Therefore, if it makes money through privacy, why should it give up its Tracker Radar data?

Weinberg admitted that publishing data may "cannibalize" its browser extension products, but this is not the company's only focus.

Weinberg said: "Our vision for the company is to increase the standard of online trust." "This vision outweighs the potential profits here."

Anyone can use the Tracker Radar data updated monthly by DuckDuckGo. He said, but for those who want the company to help use data, DuckDuckGo can also use it to pay for it.

Block trackers and destroy websites?

Blocking the tracker by preventing the browser from interacting with the tracking site sounds simple, but there are complications in privacy technology.

It’s worth noting that tracker blocking may cause problems for the site, such as preventing video playback, preventing you from completing e-commerce transactions, and disrupting the login process. DuckDuckGo checks for these issues, and in its own browsers and extensions, tries to solve these issues with code that paved the problem without actually publishing personal information.

There are other sources of tracker data, such as "disconnected" lists, and some browsers (such as Edge and Firefox) already use them. DuckDuckGo compiles its Tracker Radar data by analyzing many websites. It uses other information to annotate the data, such as whether blocking trackers might damage the website, so that anyone using it can strike the best balance between privacy and convenience.