Privacy-focused web browser DuckDuckGo is expanding its protections against third-party trackers to Microsoft, following negative user reactions.
DuckDuckGo says it will now block Microsoft tracking scripts
It wasn’t long ago that the popular private browser DuckDuckGo came under fire when users discovered that its tracking protection made exceptions for Microsoft trackers. This raised some uncertainty about whether the browser’s privacy actually lived up to expectations. Now, DuckDuckGo is making amends by removing those Microsoft exceptions and providing more transparency into how many of its privacy systems are designed.
First of all, it expands the coverage of third-party tracking scripts to those used by Microsoft (which were previously allowed due to contractual restrictions). This means that even tracking scripts from Microsoft, in addition to scripts from Facebook, Google, etc., will now no longer be able to load when using the DuckDuckGo browser.
Additionally, while the browser takes steps to keep ad serving data anonymous, specific ad tracking using the “bat.bing.com” domain may monitor conversion data. This is something that can currently be avoided by disabling ads in DuckDuckGo’s search settings. The company is also working to provide conversion data without any profiling.