DuckDuckGo's reputation for privacy has been shattered by revelations that it has reached a monitoring agreement with Microsoft.
Security researcher Zack Edwards revealed this week that the DuckDuckGo mobile browser allows some programs of Microsoft to bypass its blocking on trackers.
While the program tourς αποκλείει τους ιχνηλάτες του Facebook and Google, DuckDuckGo makes an exception for some of Microsoft's programs. Edwards found that the browser allowed data to be sent to Microsoft's LinkedIn and Bing domains.
DuckDuckGo, in turn, announced that the exception is due to a search agreement with Microsoft. Specifically the CEO and founder of DuckDuckGo, Gabriel Weinberg said on Twitter:
"Regarding the exclusion of the tracking search, we exclude most third-party trackers. Unfortunately, the Microsoft Search Distribution Agreement prevents us from doing more in Microsoft-owned programs. However, we are constantly pushing and we expect to do more soon ".
That is, they are not to blame. The agreement they made with Microsoft is to blame. Very reasonable !.
The company after the uproar, has also added a note about the exclusion of the tracker in description of its program in the App Store:
While we exclude all inter-site (third-party) cookies on other websites you visit, we may not exclude all hidden tracking scenarios on non-DuckDuckGo sites for a variety of reasons: New scripts are constantly appearing that make them difficult to find. Blocking certain scenarios creates a snapshot, rendering useless parts or the entire page. Some we can not exclude due to contractual restrictions with Microsoft.