DuckDuckGo Browser Caught Tracking Websites Visited By User

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[–]BravoVictor 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Sounds like a non-story.

  1. It only effects their Android app, not their regular website
  2. It's not tracking user data, it's just retrieving the site's favicon in a format that can be displayed in the app. Otherwise they'd have to bloat up the app's code with image processing functionality to retrieve and convert all the various image formats. Much easier to just setup a tiny server somewhere that the app can just query.

If you think sending data to DuckDuckGo is being used to track you...you're already sending them data in the form of search queries that can also be used to track you. You either trust them when they say they're not tracking you or you don't. This news doesn't change anything.

If you're truly so paranoid as to think they're tracking you, you can always hack your phone's DNS to point the domain "icons.duckduckgo.com" to localhost or something so it can't retrieve anything.

Even better, you should be using incognito browser behind a VPN.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

It only effects their Android app, not their regular website

It's not tracking user data, it's just retrieving the site's favicon in a format that can be displayed in the app.

The fact that it only effects their Android app is even more alarming considering the security vulnerabilities on phones. It is a story because it is a terrible look for a company which markets itself on its value of privacy, that is all.

[–]BravoVictor 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

is even more alarming considering the security vulnerabilities on phones.

I've had an Android phone for a decade. I've never had any security problems, nor heard of anyone who has.

It is a story because it is a terrible look for a company which markets itself on its value of privacy, that is all.

No, it doesn't, and the fact that you can't explain why only proves your pushing baseless fear mongering to the point where you're pretty clearly just trolling now.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I've had an Android phone for a decade. I've never had any security problems, nor heard of anyone who has.

You're being naive. Have you heard of the damn NSA and the PRISM program? Your phone is literally a surveillance device, if you can't see how, I can't convince you. Either way, DuckDuckGo is hosted on Amazon's servers and they are legally obliged to hand over any data they have to the NSA and other law enforcement agencies. If they were logging this kind of data, it so doesn't look good for them

[–]kokolokoNightcrawler 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Lmao, I was arguing this idiot earlier...

I've had an Android phone for a decade. I've never had any security problems, nor heard of anyone who has.

Hand on Bible, that's gotta be the dumbest sentence I've read on Saidit since I joined. So many negative IQ redditor NPC's came in lately, really bringing the mood down.