DuckDuckGo Calls Out Google Search for 'Spying' on Users After Privacy Labels Go Live

An anonymous reader shares a report: Over the course of the last several weeks, Google has been adding App Privacy labels to its iOS apps in accordance with Apple's App Store rules, but it took Google multiple months to begin sharing the information. There was speculation that Google's delay meant that it had something to hide, which DuckDuckGo is leaning into with a blog that highlights Google's data collection and calls out the company for "spying" on users. [...] DuckDuckGo claims that Google "wanted to hide" the information that it collects, which is why Google took so long to roll out support for App Privacy labels. Most people are likely not surprised at the extent of the data that Google collects, but having it in one spot in the âOEApp StoreâOE is a stark reminder.

Why "Spying"? They are literally spying on users.

[Pierre Pants]

No need for " " at all.

Normally, I'd chalk this up to marketing/jealousy

[Binkleyz]

But they really have a good point, and it should be a point of pride that DDG doesn't (apparently) do the underhanded things that Google (and especially its Chrome browser/spyware tool) continues to do.

Re:

[fermion]

It does however appear to prioritize paid content over what you would think would be top link content. Many times on DDG I search for a major firm, and instead of that firm being the top link, a third party link will be on top. Many time I click on the first link thinking it is what I am looking for, only to be sent to to an ad, not marked as an ad.

Re:

[Darinbob]

Yes, DDG does this. But so does Google, Bing, Yahoo, and whoever else is out there. DDG relies upon other search engines behind it, so if their search goes through Google then you get Google results only with privacy added, and DDG does not re-prioritize Google's results.

Re:

[tsa]

DDG does not rely on other search engines. You can, if you so choose, use a different search engine from their app or website using what they call !bangs, but then you’re directly taken to the website of the search enginge of your choice, where DDG has no say in which of your user data is collected and used.

Re:

[fermion]

False. If I type in a major firm in Google, if the firms webpage is not at the top of Google it is marked as an ad. At one time Google was fooled by link farms, but this is now fixed. Constructive cruise is not something to be defended against, but taken and use to make a product better.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

It's a deliberate misunderstanding of what Google said. They list a lot of data that they collect, but most of it is opt in.

At least that's how it is in GDPR countries.

Jonny Appleseed

[armada]

When I first learned about DDGs policies shortly after they launched I became a bit of a DDG evangelist. I quickly found out that it was a little too esoteric for "regular folk" to understand why they should switch from google and I got anything from looks of puzzlement, looks of disinterest, or even looks of "that is a nice tin hat you have there". I finally realized it was a waste of time since most people did not really care what they used to search so I switched from evangelist to secret switching vandal. I switched the default search tool to DDG on every phone that was handed to me to look at baby pictures of anything else. I did not tell them I just did it. I figured if they understood or cared they would just switch it back and if not, I just did them a favor. I must have done this hundreds of times over the years.

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[crmarvin42]

I did this for all my devices and my wife was frustrated for over a year before complaining about it. Really shows the power of presets. She didn't want to use DDG, but couldn't be bothered to figure out how to change it back to google.

When she finally did complain to me about it, instead of switching back I told her about the ability to add !g to a search to force it to resolve through google. She's mostly fine with it now since she can drop into google results whenever DDG fails to find what she's looki

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[awwshit]

> whenever DDG fails to find what she's looking for

I love DDG but that is my biggest complaint. Just yesterday, I spent 15 minutes trying to get DDG to find something for me. On Google it was the first result. DDG fails hard on about 1/3 of my searches.

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[rtb61]

I have never found that to happen, not even once. I have noticed though that Google trolls were all over the internet rubbishing DuckDuckGo results, with this kind of rubbish. For a while on Youtube if you wrote duckduckgo let alone the link the comment would be deleted 30 seconds later, which you would not notice unless you refreshed the screen, yeah that is how Youtube censor comments, behind you back, make it look like the Youtuber did it rather than youtube itself, really fucking dirty.

Every single time

Re:

[awwshit]

I've been using DDG daily for about 4 years. I only use Google when DDG fails me. Its nice that has not happened to you. Next time it happens I'll keep track of the example for you and post it here so you can experience it too.

DDG is a fine search engine, it hasn't caught up Google yet though. I wish it would.

Re:

[armada]

This is true. It is a lesser search engine to be sure but to me the tradeoff is valid and it has steadily gets better and better. I'm sure you know but just in case you don't !gi and !gm etc also works.

Re:Jonny Appleseed

[Stan92057]

Honestly your no better the Google/MS/Apple/Facebook pushing your own agenda on other without them knowing, Actually worse. At least they provide a agreement people rarely read. Wonder what other things you would do to get what you want.

Re:

[armada]

My agenda is to help people I know and care about not be taken advantage of without their understanding. Goggle's agenda is taking advantage of people's ignorance for their profit. If google made a legitimate effort to inform their "customers" how they were being monetized then I would not be doing this.

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[tsa]

I would be very annoyed if someone changed the settings of my phone without telling me. It’s a breach of my privacy.

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[serafean]

I've been there... And decided it is not worth it.
As they say, "The way to hell is paved with good intentions".
With which argument did I convince myself you ask? I would never trust my privacy/security to a third party, even a friend. Anyone promising me any of those two immediately gets an "untrusted" flag. I don't want to be flagged with that, as trust from my surroundings is the main social currency I know.
So I went back a few notches. I explain, I get blank looks, I get frustrated... Worth it.

But I do n

Re:

[crmarvin42]

Of course, LITERAL nutrition labels are notoriously unreliable and ignored by most customers. So no one should be expecting perfection, particularly in the early days of this policy. Auditing of the nutrition labels will be required before too long. I expect those to be the next round of articles on the topic in a year or two. Particularly as developers notice no consequences for flat out lying on their label.

Security groups will check the top 10 apps in a category and see if their label matches what the

Re:

[dgatwood]

As for the pot shot at DDG specifically. Not sure what the complaint is here. Their browser does everything that any other browser does, except for the tracking.

It wasn't a dig; it was simply pointing out that their app is specifically designed to not store history or do anything that could possibly result in tracking, and as a result, it's easy to say what data it collects, because it is designed to actively thwart data collection.

Unfortunately, that model isn't realistic for most nontrivial apps, because most users depend pretty heavily on being able to quickly get back to what they were working on a few days later.

Re: Trolls will be trolls.

[crmarvin42]

DDG go does have support for cookies, history, etc. itâ(TM)s just easy to nuke all of that when you want to, and it doesnâ(TM)t track you itself. Either as the search engine or the web browser.

May want to give the app a try before assuming what it does/doesnâ(TM)t do

Re:

[dgatwood]

DDG go does have support for cookies, history, etc. itâ(TM)s just easy to nuke all of that when you want to, and it doesnâ(TM)t track you itself. Either as the search engine or the web browser.

Okay, fair enough; it keeps a per-device history. Either way, history isn't shared between your computer and your phone, though, and it's is much harder for individuals to do that in an ad hoc fashion while protecting their own privacy than it is for a browser vendor to design the feature from the ground up with privacy in mind.

Privacy is the last thing...

[joshuark]

Privacy is the last thing because companies make money collecting data on users, even for their own internal use to target ads. Privacy at Google, Facebook is like virginity in a maternity ward--a distant thing. JoshK. One reason I do use DuckDuckGo through a VPN.

DuckDuckGo feature request: "Just give me Google"

[balaam's ass]

I like the idea of DDG and want to support them in principle, but the quality of their search results is often unusably poor, perhaps because Google has spied on me enough by now to learn roughly how I think to give me results closer to what I want.
It'd be great if DDG would add a button for "Ok, screw this, just send me to Google". It would save me the 5 seconds it takes to copy my query, type "google" in the address bar, paste my query and hit submit. ;-)

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

It'd be great if DDG would add a button for "Ok, screw this, just send me to Google".

It's a bit more powerful than a button: https://duckduckgo.com/bang [duckduckgo.com]

Re:

[balaam's ass]

Oh great! Thanks! If I had mod points they'd be yours.

Re:

[MysteriousPreacher]

I found a period of adjustment. You have to put more work into the search string than with Google. I got used to it and now use it for almost all searches, occasionally slipping into Bing if I come up empty. The only thing left is to switch to DDG for all image searches.

Is this suprising?

[wakeboarder]

That is googles business model, to collect data to sell to other people. To say: "Aha! I caught google spying on people" is like saying "Aha, I caught walmart selling cheap goods to people"

Sic 'em!

[omfglearntoplay]

Go Duck Go, and don't just nibble, take a bite outta 'em. :P