epi0Bauqu

In this case, the way it works is you hit our favicon service and it returns the favicon, not using any PII in the process, and our web servers are configured not to log any PII. In other words, our system is technically designed and we are legally bound by our privacy policy to not use this data for anything other than showing favicons.

Comment · 6 years ago

Yes, after consulting with staff, I understand we thought it was more privacy protecting because we know our services are already encrypted and throw away PII, and so to get the favicon you could either (a) make another request to our known anonymous service or (b) make a request (or possibly multiple) to a non-anonymous service. On the other hand it is another request to a distinct domain that traverses another path on the Internet, albeit an encrypted one.

Comment · 6 years ago

No we're not.

Comment · 10 years ago

Thanks Andrew -- appreciate it! I shudder to think of all the things I posted 8 years ago :).

Comment · 10 years ago

It is not only useful on our platform. The entire instant answer engine is open source as well, and could be incorporated in any program. Additionally, much of our Instant Answers are freely accessible via our API: https://duckduckgo.com/api. These could be and are incorporated in other programs. We are looking for ways to expand access and make them more useful, and would appreciate any suggestions.

That said, there are many for-profit companies that create and maintain open source projects that are primarily used for them. While that may mean that many people aren't interested in developing for them, it doesn't mean everyone isn't. There are some people who want to improve their own search results. There are some people who just want to help a private alternative in search.

There are others who would like exposure on our search engine pages (for their APIs or via developer attribution). In fact, as we get a decent amount of traffic now, that exposure has real monetary value. We place Instant Answers above ads and links, and so the sources that are used for Instant Answers are monetarily benefiting through their inclusion in the ecosystem. In any case, there are many valid reasons why someone may want to develop on DuckDuckHack.

Comment · 10 years ago

We would love your help: http://duckduckhack.com/

DuckDuckHack (that link) is our instant answer platform and it is all open source (both the answers themselves and the underlying answer engine). We believe that each programming area (MySQL, Perl, React, etc.) can be best served by a group of Instant Answers, and only developers with expertise in those areas can craft the best experiences for that set of Instant Answers.

As a small team, we therefore need help in our goal of making DuckDuckGo the best search engine for developers.

Comment · 10 years ago