DuckDuckGo’s mission is all about user privacy. That started with its search engine, and we’ve seen itexpand to a Chrome extensionand the company’s mobile browser. Now DuckDuckGo is once again pushing the boundaries of data protection, announcing the public beta of its own privacy-centric browser for Windows.
Even as we see some progress tolimit cross-site activity tracking, the ad industry continues to find ways to target users. We also can’t ignore the trend of websites and apps growing notably aggressive with their sign-in requests, constantly prompting users to log in with their Google accounts before proceeding.DuckDuckGo is taking a standagainst this trend with its new PC browser, aiming to disrupt Google’s and other companies' cycles of data collection and targeted advertising.
Beyond just basic web access, the browser supports features like Duck Player, where users can watch YouTube videos without the annoying privacy-invading ads, while keeping their viewing history discrete. Third-party Tracker Loading Protection blocks hidden trackers before they even load, giving users an extra layer of privacy that goes beyond what’s typically available.
There’s also some aggressive priorization of encrypted versions of sites, for extra security, and the browser attempts leave the hassles of cookie consent pop-ups behind, thanks to its Cookie Pop-up Management tool. Plus, DuckDuckGo’s Fire Button and Email Protection features offer additional convenience and privacy, saving time and keeping data secure.
The browser, although currently not supporting extensions itself, does incorporate a secure password manager and an efficient ad-blocking feature. DuckDuckGo tells us to expect future additions like faster startup performance, tab pinning, HTML bookmark import, Fingerprinting Protection, Link Tracking Protection, and Referrer Tracking Protection.
If you recall the scandal DuckDuckGo faced last year overMicrosoft tracking, you should be a little relieved to hear about the significant effort it’s put into addressing privacy issues related to Microsoft’s WebView2 rendering agent, to ensure that no user data leaks to Microsoft. The company also recommends that Windows users disable optional diagnostic data for a more private browsing experience.
If you’re running Windows 10 or later and curious to give it a try, head on over toDuckDuckGo’s site to download the beta. If you do, be sure to offer some feedback on your experience, to hopefully get the stable release of this browser working as well as it can for everyone.
