We operate a private search engine alternative to Google at, and offer additional apps and extensions to protect you from Google, Facebook, Twitter and other tracker networks, no matter where you go on the Internet. If you’re unfamiliar with DuckDuckGo, we are an Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs. How DuckDuckGo can help you use more encrypted connectionsĪt DuckDuckGo, we offer a tool to help you more regularly use encrypted connections when browsing the Internet. Unfortunately, that’s not something you can do entirely on your own – the website you want to visit has to offer an encrypted connection option, but more and more of them are doing just that. What all this means is that with your web surfing, you can block ISPs from spying on you to a great extent by using as many encrypted (secure) connections as possible. But, actually that's not correct - the ISP can only see the domain part - the rest (everything after that first slash) - is actually encrypted and the ISP cannot see it (see picture). That might make you think, even if the search engine is using an encrypted connection (i.e., starts with https), then your ISP can still see your search terms. When you do a search, you may have noticed that you can see your search terms in the address bar.

ISPs can still see the domain of the website you are visiting (everything up to the '/').

ISPs cannot see what you search for or what you type into forms.

ISPs cannot see which specific pages within that website you visit (everything after the '/').

If you see that icon, you should also see an ' at the beginning of the website address, rather than ' If a website is using an encrypted connection (i.e., HTTPS, like ): In a web browser, you can check on whether you are using an encrypted connection by looking for a padlock or similar icon in the address bar.

Whenever you connect to a website or other place on the Internet, you can be using either an encrypted (secure) connection, or an unencrypted (unsecure) connection. If your ISP is spying on you, it means they can use or sell your browsing history to others for things like creepy ads that follow you around the Internet or to junk mail providers. Your ISP is the company that gets you onto the Internet – your home Internet or mobile data provider. Yes, your ISP (Internet Service Provider) is likely spying on your web browsing, and yes, DuckDuckGo can help you significantly cut down on their ability to spy on you.

Is it true that my ISP is spying on my web browsing? Does DuckDuckGo fix that? Filed under DuckDuckGo Q&A

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