<\/p>\n
DuckDuckGo has increased protection from Microsoft trackers.<\/p>\n
The internet search engine \u2013 which aims to protect the privacy of its users by avoiding the filter bubble of personalised search results \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
CEO Gabriel Weinberg said in a statement: \u201cThis web tracking protection is not offered by most other popular browsers by default and sits on top of many other DuckDuckGo web tracking protections. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis all means our browsing apps and extensions currently offer more protection against Microsoft trackers by default than Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n
The search engine boss went on to explain to users that Microsoft scripts were \u201cnever embedded\u201d into the app in the first place but reassured them that they would be \u201crestricting\u201d Microsoft tracking through various protective measures, such as blocking third-party cookie apps.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cAlso, 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cWebsites 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\u2019s third-party cookies in our browsers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, DuckDuckGo is working towards private ad conversions but insisted that those requests for users will be \u201cblocked in all other contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel added: \u201cTo 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently, 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\u2019s website following DuckDuckGo ad clicks, but these requests are blocked in all other contexts as described above. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor anyone who wants to avoid this, it\u2019s possible to disable ads in DuckDuckGo search settings.\u201d<\/p>\n