Question: does anyone actually know what DDG does with user data? Like they market themselves as a "privacy respecting" search engine, but how much of this is truth?
I'd imagine there's good money in convincing people they have privacy because then they'll provide more interesting data.
Has the company ever been audited? Why should they be trusted to not compromise user privacy? Imo at least Google is honest: you know when you use their products as intended you have no privacy, and they don't try to hide this
Edit: since DDG isn't open source like searx, how do we know there is ANY truth to their marketing claims?
Edit: Just for accuracy, the browser extensions are open source. But as far as I know, the actual search engine isn't
Edit: They made over 100 million in 2020. They clearly can (and should) get an independent audit. It's shocking that they haven't had a single audit. Even startpage has
I'd imagine there's good money in convincing people they have privacy because then they'll provide more interesting data.
Has the company ever been audited? Why should they be trusted to not compromise user privacy? Imo at least Google is honest: you know when you use their products as intended you have no privacy, and they don't try to hide this
Edit: since DDG isn't open source like searx, how do we know there is ANY truth to their marketing claims?
Edit: Just for accuracy, the browser extensions are open source. But as far as I know, the actual search engine isn't
Edit: They made over 100 million in 2020. They clearly can (and should) get an independent audit. It's shocking that they haven't had a single audit. Even startpage has