
Duck Duck Go is tracking and personalizing results - panarky
https://twitter.com/dannysullivan/status/1070755694314311680
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_Schizotypy
whoever post this didn't read the last tweet in the thread, which was the
point of the whole thing. "The reality is that Duck Duck Go probably isn’t
personalizing. Instead, it’s having differences in results for the exact
reason we explained Google might have slight differences -- the dynamic and
distributed nature of search:"

~~~
panarky
Duck Duck Go did a study using incognito mode to accuse Google of tracking
users even when they're not logged in.

If you use DDG's same methodology on DDG itself, then it appears that DDG is
also tracking and personalizing.

 _Duck Duck Go says it does no tracking of users. If that’s true, then you
would expect normal and private browsing to provide exactly the same results.
But if you get differences, by the report’s logic, that might suggest that
Duck Duck Go is tracking and personalizing results._

This either falsifies Duck Duck Go's accusations of Google, or it shows that
Duck Duck Go is tracking and personalizing.

Probably the former.

~~~
Carpetsmoker
> This either falsifies Duck Duck Go's accusations of Google, or it shows that
> Duck Duck Go is tracking and personalizing.

I think that is a false dichotomy; it's entirely possible that the distributed
search is just _part_ of the reason that Google's search results are
different, and that DDG's accusations of filtering are also true.

I don't know if this is actually the case (I didn't look in to the matter very
deeply), just saying that it's possible.

~~~
_Schizotypy
I think the results still throw their methodology into question, it does not
give us a clear answer one way or the other on either point

------
trynewideas
Reminder that DDG released the Python scripts they say were used to analyze
Google's results a few days ago. Danny Sullivan didn't use them for this
tweet: [https://github.com/duckduckgo/filter-bubble-
study](https://github.com/duckduckgo/filter-bubble-study)

------
kiriakasis
I feel that distinguishing tracking and bubbling is important.

Essentially with my limited knowledge I would say that if "generic search
engine" does not profile you individually and uses only the information you
provide in a single session (which include accurate location via IP and
external data as political preferences of your neighbourhood) it is not
tracking.

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anotheryou
just because it's tailored to the browser or whatever Metadata it spills,
doesn't mean it's tracking on a personal level.

maybe all Firefox incognito windows machines in Finland get specific results.
no tracking needed for that.

