DuckDuckGo – the search engine and browser long associated with privacy and data protection – has announced a new feature that will block one of the most common pop-ups that web users may see: Sign in with Google.
The company quotes Reddit (opens in a new tab), Zillow (opens in a new tab)and Booking.com (opens in a new tab) like some sites that often show a Google popup, usually when webpages are first loaded.
It says that with updated mobile apps or Firefox, Chrome, Brave and Edge extensions, users will be “spared from these disruptive and misleading pop-ups” to provide a “cleaner experience and more privacy”.
Blocks DuckDuckGo Sign in with Google
According to DuckDuckGo, it does more than just remove annoying pop-ups.
In a press release, the company explained that allowing Google to associate an account with browsing history is “another way for Google to track users without their knowledge”, so much so that lawsuit (opens in a new tab) against the collection of browsing history, cookies and other website data.
DuckDuckGo believes that Google can offer this as a “win-win” to web developers, allowing them to serve more relevant, targeted ads, thereby generating more revenue for sites. In turn, Google is believed to collect huge amounts of data.
The update is now available on DuckDuckGo for Android, iOS, and Mac, and our Firefox, Chrome, Brave, and Microsoft Edge extensions.
Google hasn’t responded yet TechRadar Pro how this change will affect its operations.