[ DuckDuckGo Privacy Weekly ] For Mar 11, 2021

• Google's Floc Is a Terrible Idea [eff.org]
  Google says after replacing third-party cookies with a technology called FLoC, their behavioral ads will be just as effective. In other words, they can continue to target and manipulate you based on what makes you, you. And they call this a "private web!"
• A Private Alternative to Google Maps: DuckDuckGo Maps [howtogeek.com]
  "Google Maps, as an extension of Google, is subject to the same data collection practices as any of Google’s other services... anywhere you search for is stored against your name and used for marketing." Try our private map solution today.
• Facebook Admits It Bungled Its WhatsApp Privacy Policy Update [mashable.com]
  Facebook-owned WhatsApp says avoid messaging apps that don't have end-to-end encryption by default. Good advice but guess which messaging product does not… "Yup, that would be Facebook Messenger." Avoid both and use Signal instead.
• Privacy Matters Because It Empowers Us All [aeon.co]
  Author of Privacy is Power, Carissa Véliz, explains "when you expose your privacy, you put us all at risk” because there is immense power in aggregate personal data and you are giving that power to corporations who don’t have our best interests at heart.

And finally…

Virginia has become the second US state (after California) to sign a general privacy bill into law! However, as Virginia Senator Mark Warner says, it still needs to be easier for "citizens to invoke their privacy rights, such as through a global privacy control."

That sentiment was echoed by Senator Ron Wyden at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting this week: "There ought to be a universal opt-out. […] The good news is privacy experts have already made this happen, creating a technology called the Global Privacy Control." That's why we're proud to be a founding member of the Global Privacy Control specification, and have enabled it by default in the DuckDuckGo app and extension.

Proudly Private,



Dax the Duck
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