DuckDuckGo Opens Email Protection Service Beta to Everyone
This service eliminates trackers found in your email.
- Apple software beta tester, "Helps make our computers and phones work!" - Zach's grandparents
DuckDuckGo's Email Protection service helps stop email trackers from gathering information on you.
Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo opened its Email Protection service beta to everyone Thursday.
The service gives you a free Duck address (name@duck.com) and will detect and strip trackers within emails sent to it. Then the email is forwarded to your personal email address, and DuckDuckGo will let you know how many trackers it got rid of.
The service can be used with your existing email, and it allows you to create a new private Duck address without switching email providers.
According to DuckDuckGo, over 85% of beta testers' emails contained hidden trackers, and a 2018 study found trackers in more than 70% of mailing lists. Some email trackers act like read receipts and just let a sender know when an email is opened. Others can track where an email was opened or whether you clicked or downloaded something from the email.
DuckDuckGo's Email Protection service also takes unsecured and unencrypted HTTP links in emails and converts them to HTTPS links. That way if you click on a link, you are accessing a secure version of the site in the link.
You can reply to emails from your Duck address if you don't want to give a company or service your personal email address, similar to Apple's Sign in with Apple tool. They both act like a protective buffer between your information and companies and online services. However, DuckDuckGo said it doesn't create the message itself so they can't guarantee the reply won't include your forwarding address or other personal data.
You can also set up one-off Duck addresses that all lead back to your personal email address, providing more protection from trackers.
This service is DuckDuckGo's latest effort to provide users with more privacy online. DuckDuckGo also offers extensions for browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Safari, iOS and Android browsers and a browser for Mac. CEO Gabriel Weinberg said a Windows browser will likely be available sometime later this year.
For more privacy news, check out what to know about DuckDuckGo, five reasons to switch to DuckDuckGo and how to get started using DuckDuckGo.
