DuckDuckGo introduced a new data backup and syncing feature on its web browser that uses end-to-end encryption to keep the data protected.

The project announced today the introduction of a new feature called “Sync & Backup,” which allows users to import bookmarks, passwords, and personal settings from other browsers to DuckDuckGo. Moreover, it enables users to move that data from one device to another or restore it on a new device in case they lose their original device.

DuckDuckGo’s announcement declares that the new feature can do the following:

Privately sync and access the bookmarks and passwords saved in your DuckDuckGo browsers – including any you’ve imported from other browsers – across multiple devices.

Back up passwords, bookmarks, and favorites in case your device is lost or damaged.

Migrate your bookmarks and passwords to a new device.

Sync your Email Protection account between devices.

How about actually improving the search results? It’s my default search, which means most of the time I have to do a search twice.

deleted by creator

Sure. With google I get more that I search for. It might be bad but it works for me. Ddg does not work for me in the same way. I use just to support is them as an alternative to Google.

deleted by creator

Ok that’s fine but google’s searches are shit nowadays too.

For me they work just fine.

deleted by creator

Well they don’t know literally everything said you so of course it’s a bit off.

I’ve just started to search a bit more specific. Works well

If you search a lot, you should really look into Kagi Search, “a highly accurate, lightning-fast, user-centric, 100% privacy-respecting search engine with results augmented by non-commercial indexes and personalized searches.” Much better than the ad-supported ones, or even DDG, in my experience.

The problem is that you are required to give them your payment information and you need an account. That doesn’t sound privacy respecting to me.

Why does Kagi Search require an account? Kagi Search requires an account only because it is a paid service which requires an account for the transaction. Note that Kagi does not collect any personal information for billing and that you can even use an anonymous payment card such as Privacy if you want to.

I’m not terribly thrilled with it, but a lot of VPNs do as well. Plus, this is their business model. If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product. If they’re caught double dipping (taking our money and lying about logging to sell), they’ll be out of business shortly.

They do claim to log practically nothing. https://kagi.com/privacy

Yeah, there are definitely better alternatives. If they allowed you to pay in cash and there website was free of non-free JavaScript I would be at least willing to try it.

Nah, it’s definitely not important enough for me to pay for it.

bushparty
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I had switched to DDG search and, like you, was getting more and more frustrated with their results. I then switched to SwissCows (https://swisscows.com/) and have never considered another search engine since. The results I want are always top 5. Every time. I sopped testing alternatives long ago and am extremely content using SwissCows! I would recommend checking it out!

@RmDebArc_5@lemmy.ml
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I tried to use it, but when I searched for stuff like “kdenlive reddit” it blocks the search because it may contain violence and pornography

merde alors
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Business model

Swisscows is financed by advertising revenues and other services. Because Swisscows does not monitor users and thus does not save or pass on user data either for themselves or for others, Swisscows has developed its own advertising concept. The concept is a software technology called AdAnounce that works similar to Google AdWords technology, with the important exception that user data is not passed on to the advertiser.

In addition to advertising revenues, Swisscows also makes turnover with software projects, technology licensing and plans to provide additional software and hardware services. All these services guarantee privacy.

Interesting, it’s sad that for me the search is quiet garbage and feed me with result based on my IP/location and I couldn’t find a option to change that like DDG does.

Uhg it drives me nuts when I search for some obscure programming topic and then I get links to local restaurants. That’s not what I was searching for!

bushparty
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Garbage results compared to google results? Lol. You sure you’re using SwissCows? Lol. DDG was my default before switching to SwissCows and I find SwissCows much better, personally.

Will check it out. Would love to use Google search less but nothing really worked for me.

bushparty
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Please do! Again, the results I’ve gotten (personally) have been far superior to Google or any other reasonable alternative.

edric
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It says they use Bing behind the scenes and deliver search ads from Bing as well.

bushparty
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This is not true. A 2-min look shows they are a Swiss-based, private search engine that does not serve ads (on mobile only apparently) and has its own web index, but also uses Bing’s web index.

Apparently, they do serve adds on desktop but they’re based on anonymous search results and I presume having UBlock installed would resolve this.

Medium has a whole write-up here: https://medium.com/secure-words/try-swisscows-privacy-search-for-mobile-what-are-you-waiting-for-e616dd828328

edric
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I just got that from the website itself, unless I’m misreading it:

image

bushparty
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I believe you are correct. However, only on desktop. The Medium article specifically states they do not use ads on mobile so I believe ads are only on desktop. I typically use on mobile and have not seen any ads, nor on my non-mobile Firefox config when using SwissCows. Again, the ads are based on anonymous search results and in terms of relevant search results, at least in my testing, SwissCows far surpassed competitors.

merde alors
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are you working for swisscows?

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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