DuckDuckGo has increased protection from Microsoft trackers.
The internet search engine - which aims to protect the privacy of its users by avoiding the filter bubble of personalised search results - had come under fire from its community for blocking Google and Facebook but failing to do so for Microsoft trackers, will now provide an update that will adhere to user wishes and also accommodate web browsers on to the iOS and Android platforms too.
CEO Gabriel Weinberg said in a statement: "This web tracking protection is not offered by most other popular browsers by default and sits on top of many other DuckDuckGo web tracking protections.
“This all means our browsing apps and extensions currently offer more protection against Microsoft trackers by default than Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and more."
The search engine boss went on to explain to users that Microsoft scripts were "never embedded" into the app in the first place but reassured them that they would be "restricting" Microsoft tracking through various protective measures, such as blocking third-party cookie apps.
He added: "Also, to help clear up some other misconceptions floating around, Microsoft scripts were never embedded in our search engine or apps, which do not track you.
“Websites insert these scripts for their own purposes, and so they never sent any information to DuckDuckGo. Additionally, we were already restricting Microsoft tracking through our other web tracking protections, like blocking Microsoft’s third-party cookies in our browsers."
Meanwhile, DuckDuckGo is working towards private ad conversions but insisted that those requests for users will be "blocked in all other contexts."
Gabriel added: "To evaluate whether an ad on DuckDuckGo is effective, advertisers want to know if their ad clicks turn into purchases (conversions). To see this within Microsoft Advertising, they use Microsoft scripts from the bat.bing.com domain.
“Currently, if an advertiser wants to detect conversions for their own ads that are shown on DuckDuckGo, 3rd-Party Tracker Loading Protection will not block bat.bing.com requests from loading on the advertiser’s website following DuckDuckGo ad clicks, but these requests are blocked in all other contexts as described above.
“For anyone who wants to avoid this, it’s possible to disable ads in DuckDuckGo search settings."
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