Gerry Palmers Tech 08.05.2022 22:Aug PM EDT

DuckDuckGo Announces That All Microsoft Third-Party Tracking Scripts Will Now be Blocked

DuckDuckGo announced on Friday that it is now blocking Microsoft tracking scripts in its privacy browser after it failed locking such scripts previously.

This comes after the company faced widespread criticism as its "privacy-focused" browser failed to block Microsoft scripts in the DuckDuckGo privacy browser because of a syndicated search agreement with the software giant.

DuckDuckGo browser is supposed to emphasize privacy for its users by blocking hidden third-party trackers. The browser's Tracker Radar blocks hidden third-party trackers found lurking on websites users visit on the browser, preventing the companies creating such trackers from gathering and selling user data.

DuckDuckGo Allowed Microsoft Trackers on LinkedIn, Bing Domains

However, the Microsoft trackers was discovered to have been allowed on the browser by security researcher Zach Edwards, who also discovered that the DuckDuckGo browser blocked Google and Facebook trackers yet permitted Microsoft trackers on Linkedin and Bing domains.

DuckDuckGo announced that it is blocking all third-party Microsoft tracking scripts in its mobile ‎DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser (iOS/Android) and DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials browser extensions on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera.

DuckDuckGo CEO Vows More Privacy, Transparency

DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg said recognized that the company "didn't meet (user) expectations around one of our browser's web tracking protections." As such, he made an announcement that "more privacy and transparency around DuckDuckGo's web tracking protections" are being rolled out.

The blocking of Microsoft trackers is being made using the browser's 3rd-Party Tracker Loading Protection feature, with scripts from the following twenty-one URLs will be blocked, as reported by Bleeping Computer:

adnxs.com
adnxs-simple.com
adsymptotic.com
adv-cloudfilse.azureedge.net
app-fnsp-matomo-analytics-prod.azurewebsites.net
azure.com
azure.net
bing.com
cdnnwlive.azureedge.net
clarity.ms
dynamics.com
fp-cdn.azureedge.net
licdn.com
linkedin.com
live-tfs-omnilytics.azurewebsites.net
msecnd.net
nlo-stl-web.azureedge.net
nuance.com
pestcontrol-uc1.azureedge.net
sdtagging.azureedge.net
serviceschipotlecom.trafficmanager.net

But since DuckDuckGo relies on Microsoft Advertising for ads shown in its search engine, there will be a limited allowance of Microsoft trackers on the privacy browser.

When users click on an advertisement in the DuckDuckGo search engine, thebrowser will allow tracking scripts from bat.bing.com to execute once on the advertiser's site. This enables advertisers to track how well their advertising campaigns are working.

DuckDuckGo will then block all further calls on that advertiser's site that seek to load trackers from bat.bing.com.

DuckDuckGo said that theyare looking at replacing bat.bing.com trackers soon with private ad conversion implementations currently being developed by Firefox and Safari.

Microsoft Pleased With DuckDuckGo Move

Microsoft says they are satisfied with the move, allowing DuckDuckGo to strengthen user privacy even as it allows Microsoft advertisers to continue monitoring the performance of their ads.

Microsoft said in a statement to Bleeping Computer that it has policies in place to ensure the balance the needs of our publishers with advertisers' needs to accurately track conversions.

The company added that it has been partnering with DuckDuckGo "to understand the implications of this policy" and "are pleased to have arrived at a solution that addresses those concerns."

Weinberg also announced more transparency features around DuckDuckGo's web tracking protection features with the the launch of a dedicated help page and the sharing of a list of blocked trackers on GitHub.