From its humble beginnings as a one-man project out of a basement in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, DuckDuckGo has grown into one of the most respected privacy-focused browsers in the world.
Started as a search engine, the intention from the beginning was to challenge the dominance in this field of companies like Google and, in the future, words from its founder and CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, “providing a user-centric alternative.”
As the company celebrates its 15th anniversary, Weinberg outlines DuckDuckGo’s journey to become a popular browser choice for those concerned about their online privacy, and what he thinks the future holds for the Internet and its users .
Privacy first
DuckDuckGo launched in 2008, before, as Weinberg puts it, “the world began to realize the creepy power and uncanny surveillance of companies like Google and Facebook.”
Although progress has been slow, he notes that 2011 was the real breakout year for DuckDuckGo, expanding the team with new members who remain with the company to this day. This was also when the “vision to raise the standard of trust online” was established.
While privacy-focused browsers are becoming increasingly popular, they still seem to be struggling compared to browsers like Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari, which are pretty much the default choice for many. This is despite the privacy issues such browsers have, suggesting that people may still be willing to sacrifice some of their privacy for convenience.
Weinberg, however, is optimistic about his own company, saying DuckDuckGo is a “healthy, profitable company that protects users’ privacy rather than exploiting it.” Additionally, he believes that people’s concerns about their own privacy online are “fueling our growth.” He quotes a recent study Forrester as evidence showing that nearly 90% of American adults “use at least one privacy or security protection tool online.”
Weinberg claims that the DuckDuckGo browser and its extensions have been downloaded more than a quarter of a billion times Cloudflare ranks its search engine number two for mobile users, third overall in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, India, Australia, Canada and others.
And looking ahead, Weinberg sees the desire to make the switch only growing as major tech companies like Google and others “increasingly exploit personal data.” He also believes that DuckDuckGo offers users a simple and easy way to protect their online privacy, with the company being “laser-focused on our product vision to be the ‘easy button’ for privacy.”
However, in the world of online privacy, things are not that simple. Last year, a row took place between DuckDuckGo and one of its main rivals, Brave, over the former’s alleged attribution of Microsoft trackers.
The altercation involved some deeper technical details, but ultimately a company spokesperson defended DuckDuckGo, saying the issue only involved “ad clicks, which are protected in our agreement with Microsoft as strictly non-profiling (private).. .these advertisements are privacy protected.”
Weinberg did admit that “unfortunately, our Microsoft search syndication agreement prevents us from doing more on Microsoft properties. However, we have continued to apply pressure and expect to do more soon.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by Weinberg in the company’s anniversary blog post, continually pushing to improve privacy protections for its users, assuring them with “the simple promise enshrined in our privacy policy: we don’t track you.”