In older Publication we reported that security researcher Zack Edwards uncovered issues with DuckDuckGo's mobile browser as it allows certain Microsoft programs to bypass its blocking in trackers (trackers).
While the browser blocks Facebook and Google trackers, DuckDuckGo makes an exception for some of Microsoft's programs. Edwards found that the browser allows sending data on Microsoft's LinkedIn and Bing domains.
At duration over the weekend, however, the company's CEO and founder, Gabriel Weinberg, said in reddit that the issue concerns them exclusively browsers of DuckDuckGo and not the machine search while clarifying that it only allows specific Microsoft trackers:
"I'm the CEO and founder of DuckDuckGo. To be clear (as I see confusion in the comments), when you upload our search results, you are anonymous, including ads. Also, on third-party websites, we actually block Microsoft third-party cookies in our browsers and provide more protections, including protection against fingerprinting. That is, all that was written is not about our browser, but our browsers - we have browsers for iOS, Android and now for Mac (in beta).
When most other browsers talk about surveillance protection, they usually refer to third-party cookie protection and fingerprinting protection. Our browsers impose the same restrictions on all third-party tracking scenarios, including Microsoft. "
This post does not imply endorsement of DuckDuckGo's practices, as if a company is advertised as offering security, it does not automatically have the right to compare itself to practices used by conventional browsers.
