The main features of DuckDuckGo could be described as “a search engine that doesn’t track you”. It says it does not to use cookies to follow users actions and promises it doesn’t collect personal information of any kind. They even claim your IP address is hidden.
Normally when clicking on a link from Google and Bing, even in incognito mode, the terms of the search are sent to the site you’re visiting within the HTTP referrer header. When you visit that site, the computer you’re using shares information, such as the IP address. This information can ultimately be used to identify you.
The often uncomfortably personal contents of your searches won’t be shared with any third-party advertisers, insurance companies etc etc. So, if you just happen to search for, *cough* “male enlargement treatments” or maybe “how to get out of bad credit,” it can’t be traced back to you according to DuckDuckGo’s privacy policy.
An additional method to help avoid search leakage is to use a proxy. DuckDuckGo has a Tor exit control, which essentially creates an end-to-end anonymous/encrypted search. Simply typing !proxy domain into DuckDuckGo will automatically route you through a proxy, be mindful though that proxies can be slow, especially the free ones, the DuckDuckGo proxies are funded through advertising.
Will DuckDuckGo share my information with the authorities?. DuckDuckGo disclosed it doesn’t receive law enforcement requests because there is no data to request.
Weinberg commented saying:
“I think that law enforcement has essentially understood we don’t have anything to give them; they don’t really come knocking for things. Most of these laws are about turning over existing business records and we don’t have any records to turn over. There’s really nothing to take from us.”
If you are one of those people who doesn’t want to be part of the surveillance culture that is so prevalent these days then “Duck it” instead of “Google it”.