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DuckDuckGo: Challenging Google Is Not a Bad Idea

February 25, 2016

I read “The Founder of DuckDuckGo Explains Why Challenging Google Isn’t Insane.” I noted several statements in the write up; namely:

  • DuckDuckGo delivers three billion searches a year, compared to Google’s trillion-plus search per year. The zeros can be confusing to an addled goose like me. Let me say that Google is delivering more search results that DuckDuckGo.com
  • DuckDuckGo’s revenues are in 2015 were more than $1 million. Google’s revenues were about $75 billion. Yep, more zeros.
  • It used to take Google six months to index pages on the Internet. (I thought that Google indexed from its early days based on a priority algorithm. Some sites were indexed in a snappy manner; others, like the National Railway Retirement Board, less snappily. I am probably dead wrong here, but it is a nifty point to underscore Google’s slow indexing. I just don’t think it was or is true.)
  • DuckDuckGo was launched in 2008. The company is almost eight years old.
  • Google’s incognito mode is a myth. What about those Google cookies? (I think the incognito mode nukes those long lived goodies.)

Here’s the passage I highlighted:

Adams (the interviewer): I thought the government could track me whether I use DuckDuckGo or not.

Weinberg (the founder of DuckDuckGo): No they can’t. They can get to your Google searches, but if you use DuckDuckGo it’s completely encrypted between you and us. We don’t store anything. So there’s no data to get. The government can’t subpoena us for records because we don’t have records.

DuckDuckGo beats the privacy drum. That’s okay, but the privacy of Tor and I2P can be called into question. Is it possible that there are systems and methods to track user queries with or without the assistance of the search engine system? My hunch is that there are some interesting avenues to explore from companies providing tools to various government agencies. What about RACs, malware, metadata analyses, etc.? Probably I am wrong again. RATs. I have no immunity from my flawed information. I may have to grab my swim fins and go fin-fishing. I could also join a hacking team and vupen it up.

Stephen E Arnold, February 25, 2016

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under News, Search, Security 

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