Researching DuckDuckGo, Google and Instagrok on my first hand Experience and their Privacy Policy.
When comparing the three search engines, I found out that:
- DuckDuckGo shows all users the same search results for a given search term. It distinguishes itself from other search engines by not profiling its users.
- Google shows personalized results to a search depending on the search history of the user.
- Instagrok positions itself as a research engine. When a search is done, it shows results in the form of graphical concept maps showing how ideas connect. This engine is found to be useful with very specific research and hence, it is appropriately called a research engine!Extremely useful for the Education and Research sector.
In order to delve deeper, there’s nothing better than actually experiencing a product or a service. Therefore, I did a search for 4 g Telephone network on all the 3 search engines and I realized that:
Google was the fastest to show results. However, there were ads in the search followed by information links on the search term.The ads were perhaps related to my last search I did on Google on Optus.
In DuckDuckGo, the speed was good to show results, which were links, related to the term. The information shared was unique and interesting, thus highlighting the fact that DuckDuckGo also emphasizes getting information from the best sources rather than the most sources, generating its search results from key crowd sourced sites such as Wikipedia and from partnerships with other search engines like Yandex, Yahoo, Bing, Wolfram, Alpha, Yummly.
I also looked at the Privacy Policies of these search engines. Here’s a comparison of the Privacy Policies of these.
DuckDuckGo does not collect or share personal information. With regards to Search Leaks, at DuckDuckGo, search leakage is prevented by default. When a user clicks on the link, it routes that request in a way so that it does not send search terms to other sites. Though the other site will know that they were visited, but they will not know what search was entered.
At other search engines such as Google, when you do a search and then click on a link, your search terms will be sent to that site you clicked on in the http referrer header. Some call this sharing of personal information or search leakage. For example when you search for something private, you are sharing that private search not just with the search engine but also with all the sites that you clicked on for that search. The encrypted version of DuckDuckGo can protect your search from being leaked onto the computers it travels. At DuckDuckGo, the encrypted version even goes further and automatically changes links from a number of major websites to point to the encrypted versions of those sites. Another way to prevent search leakage is by using a Post request, which has the effect of not showing your search in your browser, and, as a consequence, does not send it to other sites. In case you want to prevent sites from knowing you visited them at all, you can use a proxy like Tor.DuckDuckGo operates a Tor exit enclave which means it gives end to end anonymity and encryption in search using Tor & DuckDuckGo together.
Unlike Google where the searches are often tied together through browser cookies, which are pieces of information that sit on your computer and get sent to the search engine on each request, DDG does not use cookies by default. Only if you have changed any settings then cookies are used to store those changes. Howevre, not stored in a personally identifiable way. Google often stores a unique identifier in your browser and then associates that identifier with your searches.
Google uses all information on your use of services and how you use them, like when you visit a website that uses advertising services or you view and interact with ads and content. This information includes:
- Device information: which is collected by Google such as device specific information (such as your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers and mobile network information including phone number). Google may associate your device identifiers or phone number with the Google Account.
- Log information when Google services are used or content is viewed on Google. This information is automatically collected and stored in server logs such as:
- Details of how you used the service, such as the search queries.
- Telephony logs information like your phone number, calling-party number, forwarding numbers, time and date of calls, duration of calls, SMS routing information and types of calls.
- IP Address
- Device event information such as crashes, system activity, hardware settings, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and referral URL.
- Cookies that may uniquely identify your browser or your Google Account.
- Collect and store information (including personal information) locally on your device using mechanisms such as browser(including HTML 5) and application data caches.
- Google uses various technologies to collect and store information when you visit a Google service, and this may include sending one or more cookies or anonymous identifiersto your device. The cookies and anonymous identifiers are used when you interact with services offered by Google and it’s partners, such as advertising or Google features that may appear on other sites.
While using Instagrok, the site can be used without creating an account. Certain features, however, require registration. If you register as a General user or as a Teacher/Librarian, you will be asked to provide your email address, a user ID of your choosing, and a password. Collected information: collects information on how you use the Site, such as what topics users have researched. Like most major websites, Instagrok may use “cookies” to store information during your use of the site that are stored in a designated file on your computer.