New And Updated DuckDuckGo Tools Have Privacy Protection You’ve Always Wanted

DuckDuckGo, a Google Search alternative which promotes itself by saying it doesn’t track you, is here with a new set of tools which it claims can protect your privacy outside their search box.

As of today, DuckDuckGo’s search engine provided solutions to the queries of more than 16 billion queries since its launch almost a decade ago.

In a blog post, DuckDuckGo’s CEO Gabriel Weinberg has announced updated versions of their browser extensions for Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and apps for Android and iOS.

The most prominent of the features revealed is the ability to protect the users from tracker networks from companies like Google and Facebook to fuel their ad business. Gabriel says Google’s tracker now scoops personal information from around 76% of the webpages, while Facebook tracker can do that for 24%.

“Our Privacy Protection will block all the hidden trackers we can find, exposing the major advertising networks tracking you over time, so that you can track who’s trying to track you,” he wrote.

When browsing websites, DuckDuckGo would provide Privacy Grade rating from A to F based on the privacy practices and hidden tracker networks. It’ll make sure the user is redirected to the HTTPS version of the site, if available.

DuckDuckGo has also partnered with Terms of Service Didn’t Read (TOSDR) to provide users a summary of the TL;dr privacy policy of websites which only a few might have the courage to read. Further, DuckDuckGo wants to extend its privacy protection arm from their search engine to the websites you visit, through their apps and extensions.

Their claims and plans to put an end to invasive tracking might not sound fool-proof but they believe as more people become aware with time, it’ll expose the companies which make money off the personal information and “collectively raise the internet’s privacy grade.”

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