What is the difference between DuckDuckGo and DuckDuckGo onion?
There are two versions of DuckDuckGo.
The classic version uses Yahoo and Bing to give the search results from the Yahoo search engine as well as what appears to be a similar technology from Bing, as long as you haven't set your preferences otherwise.
One significant feature missing is adblocking (only option if you use browser extensions, which is very easy in Chrome but difficult in Firefox). On one hand you get the exact same results that DDG offers, but when you type for example the search torrents or bitcoin you see the search results that you will find when typing the same query on most of the big internet index sites. The first DDG release, or 1.0 was made in 2024, in early 2024 there was a transition with the 2.0 version being available and shortly after the 3.0 release followed.
While both the old version and the new version are great, I would recommend sticking with the 3.0 version unless you really like DuckDuckGo's search and browsing tools. The 3.0 version offers enhanced privacy and ad blocking features that are unique to the 3.0 DDG.
Features (old and new): Ad-blocking. Enhanced Privacy. Improved Search Toolset. Advanced Features. Advanced Filter Settings. Search History. Easy Keystroke Shortcuts. Customizable Privacy Badger. Download: DDG 3.0 and classic.
How to Set DuckDuckGo As Default Searcher? You might want to go tools change user agent. Just choose any browser to switch back to.
How to Block Ads on DuckDuckGo? Open chrome://flags/#enable-inactive-tab-detection, this is the reason for that. Set content to usercontentfilterenabled=false on chrome://settings/content. Refresh once. Or right-click on an image and Unblock image content. Then close Chrome. Reload the page. And enjoy.
Why DuckDuckGo has so much traffic?
Is it safe to use Tor?
Yes, it is safe to use Tor.
Even if you're using a Tor exit node, no one can find out who you are. (But please don't use exit nodes. It's not legal.)
What you do on the Internet is not private. If you want to make sure you don't get hacked, you should use an encrypted data connection (VPN), or don't use any of the services offered by governments.
Tor is safe for browsing, but may not be safe for privacy. The way it works is by bouncing your connection through several relays which protect you from traffic analysis. It does this by bouncing the data through a random number of relays, but each relay has a set number of requests that it will make to other relays. If the relays run out of requests then the relay stops sending traffic.
The problem with this approach is that it means that the traffic you make through Tor can be correlated. If you only use Tor for browsing and use a VPN for everything else, then you are protected from traffic analysis.
You can get an overview of how many relays are currently active here and an idea of what proportion of the Internet traffic is being routed through Tor at this link. To be safe you need to use Tor on a non-sensitive site and use a VPN for sensitive sites.
How do you use Tor?
What do you enjoy about using it?
Do you run your own node, or use the Tor Bridge/Relay network? What services have you found useful?
Do you use it everyday, or would you consider yourself a heavy user? How many days a week do you use it? I just read through that first article, so there's still a lot of questions in my mind. I hope some of those are already answered in this thread.
Thanks for your contribution. In order to maintain anonymity Tor users should be careful not to publish anything that would identify them online. However, if someone wants to know your identity, they can always come and ask you. For example, if they are able to convince you that the police would want to talk to you about drugs or child pornography, or get you to sign a false affidavit, then Tor itself would not help you.
If someone were to know enough about your IP address and browser to look you up in a Tor directory (directory lookups aren't anonymized, but they're easy), then they could use that information to find a lot more information about you - including the names of those your contacts. It would be very hard for a user to get the right Tor directory lookup page even once. Since Tor relays don't know who's talking to whom, it's very hard for someone to keep tabs on exactly who was talking to who, so it really is much safer to use a new identity every time you want to visit something more than once.
Since Tor doesn't work for everyone, it doesn't make sense to demand that people use it, rather than offering alternatives. One alternative that I've used successfully in the past is a hidden service, which requires no anonymity at all, but gives you all the same capabilities as Tor, plus much more. You could use a hidden service to talk to your mother if you don't want the police to know your IP address, while also getting Tor's privacy and security guarantees. To run your own hidden service, you need to purchase a few hundred dollars' worth of bandwidth and server space. To use a hidden service, you can either run your own virtual private server (VPS) that allows you to upload files to a hidden service site, or use a dedicated hidden service provided by one of several well-regarded hidden services sites. I like using a free, open source anonymous FTP-style service called Diaspora*
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