There is no "new era of search competition" until Google's monopoly in the search market is addressed.
While the innovation is exciting, until users get the opportunity to easily pick their default search engine it’s the same era all over again.
This is what happens when:
1⃣No one trusts you on privacy.
2⃣You don’t actually care about privacy.
3⃣You couldn’t find a way to force people to use it.
Google and Facebook have made people think user tracking is essential to make great products and run a profitable business.
@DuckDuckGo
is proving them wrong everyday.
Proving all the skeptics wrong, we've been profitable since 2014 and today, our revenue exceeds $100 million/yr, without ever tracking our users.
We're using these resources to build new ways to give users even more privacy for free, hold on to your feathers:
New: We obtained an internal database of employee-reported privacy incidents at Google that shows the huge breadth of data it has and the run-of-the-mill and spectacular ways it mishandles it all the time
Millions of people have made DuckDuckGo their default search engine because they've had enough of misleading statements like this.
If you're so sure people don’t want to use us, then why not just let people choose their search default in one-click?
@MichaelLivesley
@AlasdairIS
@clim8resistance
DuckDuckGo is not owned by Google and we don't sell user data to Google. We don't collect any data, there are no log-ins, so there is no data to sell.
We've been saying this for a long time, couldn't agree more. The most salient ills of the Internet could all be made better if we did one thing: give people the privacy online they deserve.
Here's the "Privacy First" pitch: whatever is going on with all of the problems of the internet, all of these problems are made worse by commercial surveillance.
* Worried your kid is being made miserable through targeted ads? No surveillance, no targeting.
4/
Erika Gudmundson, a senior communications aide on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, has joined Pramana Collective as principal.
We can't wait for what's to come in 2022. Look out for our new desktop app, which brings the privacy & speed of our mobile app (finally!) to desktop. First look is here.
Don't call it (just) a search engine!
@DuckDuckGo
is building a privacy layer for the internet, thrilled we could work with the great
@GiladEdelman
to break it all down.
We’re excited to announce App Tracking Protection for Android is now in beta, a new feature in our app that blocks third-party trackers like Google and Facebook lurking in other apps.
Join the waitlist today!
Almost forgot about this gem from Hal Varian - a father of the surveillance economy - predicting what digital life in 2025 will be like from 2014.
This is someone who prays at the alter of user data and thinks privacy concerns are "quaint":
#USvGoogle
Last April, my mother contracted covid in her NYC nursing home & nearly died. Two entire floors closed b/c unlike my mother, residents never returned from the ER. Last month, a nurse who treated my mother like her own died of covid. Don't edit them out.
This is 100% true. We’ve passed a key milestone, but there’s still a lot of history to be written and Google will do anything it can to get in the way of progress.
The impact of Google's guilty verdict will depend on the strength of the remedies/sentencing phase where Judge Mehta has broad discretion. Expect DOJ to argue G must be broken up, unable to play in AI, etc.
@ycombinator
had a conference on this 6 mos ago:
@David_lCastro
@DuckDuckGo
The ad blocking on DDG is actually pretty good as is. See this image, Chrome on the left, DDG on the right. Note the car ads on Chrome, while everything is blocked on DDG. Much cleaner out of the box 🦆
In less than a week, over 100k people have joined the private waitlist for DuckDuckGo Email Protection. We're letting people off in the order they signed up, so get your place in line now!
Here's how to sign up:
@swodinsky
hey - no not at all! If you look at that account, we pretty much unfollowed everyone, generating way more automated tweets than anyone would want to read :)
The majority of Google search users don't actually actively pick Google. That choice is made for them by the default setting. Google is extremely skilled at making choice simple. This isn’t it. 🧵
This is how much "data linked to you" Google collects vs DuckDuckGo on iOS. Note the purpose of these apps are the same, to search and browse the internet.
DuckDuckGo provides something extremely valuable that people want and Google won't provide: real privacy. But Google makes it unduly difficult to use DuckDuckGo by default. We're glad this issue is finally going to have its day in court.
“The death of the cookie then and even more so now, is greatly exaggerated,” says Kamyl Bazbaz, vice president of communications at
@DuckDuckGo
, the famously privacy-focused search engine and outspoken opponent of the Privacy Sandbox’s proposed solutions.
This was never about giving users more privacy, it was about making Google's ad dominance even more powerful.
Chrome users can now enjoy the privileged of being double tracked through cookies and FLoC testing all at once.
"Privacy by Design" smh
@auferetur
@sistercrow
@ginasue
hi - there have been a few misleading stories going around so to clarify: we don't have any user search histories by design. People are anonymous when they view our search results and we do not save or share their search or browsing history.
You know when Google makes a pro privacy argument they are extremely desperate.
If only there was a company that knew how to do this without violating user privacy….
Borrowing from Carville: Its the index, stupid!
Great piece from
@daveyalba
and
@byJuliaLove
about the immense power of Google’s search index (maintained illegally) over not just the general search market and publishers, but the future of AI too.
Knowing your behavior online is Google's most valuable asset.
@JusticeATR
does a great job explaining how Google's search monopoly and combining user data from separate Google products into single user profiles played a major part in building this (other) monopoly in ad tech.
🚨NEW:
@JusticeATR
is holding
@Google
accountable for illegally monopolizing the market for online ads.
We applaud the DOJ for pushing a pro-competition agenda that actually enforces laws on the books and protects the general public from Big Tech.
This internal Google thread from US vs Google P2 has everything: profit over user privacy, dismissing regulators, blatant acknowledgment of antitrust issues and more. Hate it when the history is on!
just found some eye-popping stuff in google discovery under the examples of substantive chats (not deleted). you ready? it's between two key VPs (33+yrs collectively working at Google) and strikes at the intersection of privacy and antitrust as they began cookie deprecation. /1
My second favorite set of statistics from today courtesy Google’s Project Cinnamom: 54% of US iPhone users surveyed by Google didn’t realize that the default search engine in Safari is Google. In Japan, that number was 81%.
Google Translate: Over the next few *years*, we're going to stop the most criticized way we track people and replace it with something far worse we hope no one will fully understand until the damage is done. Rinse and repeat.
Today
@washingtonpost
, we’re changing the game on tech journalism.
We the users of phones, apps & social networks deserve better.
Introducing Help Desk, a team of fearless reporters dedicated to holding tech accountable in the products you use every day
Duck Player. A more private and less annoying way to watch youtube videos. Now live in our desktop browser for Mac. Try it now, you'll love it. Money back guarantee (its free).
Let's dive in to some of the features, many of which were based on your feedback (thank you!):
🔸 Want to watch YouTube videos in peace? We've got you covered. Our new Duck Player protects you from targeted ads and cookies with a distraction-free interface.
Our vision: Provide millions of Syrian refugee children who have known nothing but war an opportunity for a better life. Today, thanks to
@macfound
, IRC &
@SesameWorkshop
, we will make that vision become a reality. Learn all about it here:
#100andchange
@eringriffith
Seems like they are trying to set up "we don't track individual users" like a new "we don't sell your data". Factually correct and totally misleading at the same time.