The neutrality of the internet is under fire, and an increasing number of countries and governments are planning to regulate it, and implement or extend practices like data retention about their citizen's online activities, prioritized traffic lanes based on local regulations, and so on. Because of that, users are trying to find ways to protect their privacy while online, and they are more interested in using search engines that safeguard their privacy. Due to this trend, DuckDuckGo has doubled its popularity during the last year. Here's what happened and why:

What is DuckDuckGo?

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-oriented search engine, that does not track its users. It offers less clutter than Google and real privacy. One important difference is that, unlike when using Google, when you search for something, you don't immediately see ads about what you have searched. Also, unlike Google, DuckDuckGo doesn't log what you have searched. If you would like to learn more about their privacy policy, you can read it here.

DuckDuckGo also has an extensive list of features, including cool geeky things like random password generation, a tool that checks whether websites are down or not, rhymes generation (in case you want to poems), an app search feature, link shortening, a loan calculator, and more.

DuckDuckGo has become the 250th most popular website in the USA, and it is growing

As reported by Neowin, the popularity of this search engine has increased a lot over the last year, and it has entered the list of the 400th most visited websites in the world. When looking at individual countries, DuckDuckGo is the 250th most popular website in the USA, the 173rd in Germany, 188th in France, and 190th in the UK. You can view by yourself how the popularity of DuckDuckGo evolves, on Alexa.

Net Neutrality is in peril and DuckDuckGo can help you increase your privacy

It looks like the neutrality of the internet is under fire in many parts of the world. In the USA, the Trump administration wants to roll back net neutrality protections put in place during the Obama administration. In the UK, Theresa May (the Prime Minister) wants to create a new internet that would be controlled and regulated by the government. Even Sweden is considering extending its data retention plans.

In an internet which is more intensely regulated and monitored, people are more conscious about their privacy and security when online. While Google works very well and does an excellent job at finding what you seek, it also means that Google knows everything that you do online, it serves ads about things it knows are interesting to you and governments working closely with Google can access your data.

Switching to DuckDuckGo is one way of making sure that you are less tracked, and that more of what interests you online remains private. It is not a silver bullet to all your privacy needs, but it is a good first step. You should try it out and see for yourself whether it is a good match.

What is your experience with DuckDuckGo?

If you are familiar with DuckDuckGo or you are testing it out after reading this news article, share with us details of your experience. Do you enjoy using it? Is it better than Google? Share your views in the comments below.