Is chrome feeding google all my address bar search queries, even though search is set to Duck Duck Go?

UberTiger

UberTiger

UberTiger

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I switched my default search in Chrome to Duck Duck Go a while back, and I usually type the search into the address bar rather than loading the full site and using the search field on there.

This morning I had a kid ring my door bell and leg it, standard kids stuff, I was trying to remember the name of what it's called and typed in "Ding Dong Ditch" into the Chrome address bar, the Duck Duck Go results page came up. I don't think I clicked any of the search results, just red the site descriptions, and definitely didn't click any youtube videos.

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Less than a half hour later I'm on youtube and I'm getting low view count Ding Dong Ditch related content in my recommended feed from a channel I've never heard of.

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I run ublock origin, and ghostery, so I can only think that maybe Chrome is intercepting the search queries even though the default is set to DDG? What's the point in being able to change the default search engine if Chrome is still scraping all my search queries?
 
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Depending on your setup may be cross-site tracking. Chrome is relatively intrusive compared to other browsers when it comes to reporting back usage patterns though.
 
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Yeah, that's what I thought, but I didn't click through to any site apart from the Duck Duck Go search results page, I just checked my history and I never left DDG.

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if you are logged into a google account in chrome and in that account have saving web activity set (mines off) they track address bar, and will send to utube

if you are logged out , as I usually am, if not using gmail, I don't know what they record.
 
I love this. If you think your browser is the only thing sharing your searches, I can link you to a thousand cyber security courses which will quickly tell you, privacy through a browser is useless.

Run a VPN? lol, it won't be offering you the privacy you think it does, in any shape or form.
 
That's it, I'm only communicating with other people via carrier pigeon from now on, doing all my research at libraries, shopping in person and using my old Encarta cd's to learn about stuff instead of wikipedia.

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Django x2 said:
I love this. If you think your browser is the only thing sharing your searches, I can link you to a thousand cyber security courses which will quickly tell you, privacy through a browser is useless.
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not sure what you mean - outside of web-sites that you are visiting, the basic browser code is just leaking data back to google ..

yes if I am on the Guardian web-site and look for recipes, maybe I start receiving adverts for Waitrose or McDonalds but that's down to the Guardian
 
jpaul said:
not sure what you mean - outside of web-sites that you are visiting, the basic browser code is just leaking data back to google ..

yes if I am on the Guardian web-site and look for recipes, maybe I start receiving adverts for Waitrose or McDonalds but that's down to the Guardian
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He is talking about things like how there are companies in the background scraping things like IP (even on VPNs), information about habits and stuff the browser might leak like display resolution, etc. to build profiles of regular patterns and so on which can to some extent identify a type of user if not a specific user.

I wouldn't say privacy through a browser is useless but if you really care beyond a superficial level it takes some understanding of what is going on.
 
Short answer: Yes

Long answer: Assume yes until proven otherwise.

Longer answer: Is the data worth something to google? If 'yes' they will capture. In this case, that's a big YES.
 
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jpaul said:
I think he's just being alarmist ... what percentage of chrome users actually disable aforementioned web activity saving ,
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I actually disabled all my web tracking in my google account a year or two ago, which makes this even worse. So Chrome is taking my search query to Duck Duck Go, just because it was placed through the Chrome address bar and then influencing the search result of a different YouTube account that's logged into that browser.

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Django x2 said:
Run a VPN? lol, it won't be offering you the privacy you think it does, in any shape or form.
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People paying for VPN :cry:

Your browser is cross tracking you across multiple sources including cookies and all sorts. You are not protected no matter what. You can reduce it but not 100% behind walls.

ding dong ditch.

OP said he wants his username changed to DingDongDitch.
 
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It's the same with SSIDs. There's an app, I won't say which one, which will allow me to see SSIDs on your phone, at the airport, just before you set off on holibobs. I can then reference that against a well known, public SSID database (thanks Google Streetview) and find, within pretty close proximity, your address. I hope you left nothing valuable at home whilst you went on holiday.

It's also interesting that people seem to be defining their privacy at the browser. The browser is a glorified user interface, nothing more. The real culprit here is DNS and ISPs.
 
Django x2 said:
It's the same with SSIDs. There's an app, I won't say which one, which will allow me to see SSIDs on your phone, at the airport, just before you set off on holibobs. I can then reference that against a well known, public SSID database (thanks Google Streetview) and find, within pretty close proximity, your address. I hope you left nothing valuable at home whilst you went on holiday.
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This is all true (and easily mitigated), but beyond being another privacy concern I'm not sure how it is relevant to this thread? To mitigate this I always turn wifi off and rely on 4G only when outside my home, I've checked the public SSID databases and mine isn't on there, and I change the SSID on my router every few months anyway.


Django x2 said:
It's also interesting that people seem to be defining their privacy at the browser. The browser is a glorified user interface, nothing more. The real culprit here is DNS and ISPs.
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The browser is how your device connects to the world wide web, it can leak any data that passes through it which is ALL of your browsing activity. Yes DNS and ISPs can also leak data, so what? In this case the OP's browser has leaked (by intention of the developer, not a bug) browsing information back to the developer who also happens to be a trillion dollar advertising company. Yes switching browser and doing nothing else will not stop the data getting to google. But there are a series of steps the user can take (including switching to a better browser) that can prevent their ddg search info making its way back to google.

Internet privacy is not impossible*, just difficult. There are various DNS encryption protocols that can hide your DNS requests. Using HTTPS will hide the content you are viewing from your ISP, but they can still see which IPs you're connected to. To avoid that you can use Tor.

By 'privacy' in this context I mean preventing your browsing data being hoovered up en masse by advertising/social media companies. If a state-level agency (i.e. GCHQ or NSA or Chinese government or similar) wants to use the resources available to them to spy on you specifically then there's nothing you can really do to stop them.
 
GaryTheSnail said:
I guess it needs to go viral. On all social media hyping it up to say exactly what is happening. Someone might take hold and make sure they not allowed to do it.
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Vast majority of people on social media don't even understand the concept of internet privacy, or they just don't care. If they cared about their internet privacy, they wouldn't be on social media in the first place.

Anyone who is privacy conscious and likely to care about this probably is already aware and has taken steps to prevent it on their PCs.
 
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