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my Searches in duckduckgo seem affected by my IP address (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

i vary my IP randomly to try to be tracked less on the internet by ad companies.

when using duckduckgo, i notice my results of certain searches seem slightly correlated to the IP I use if there's anything that could be impacted by location.

this is also not just country specific, where duckduckgo is narrowing this down based on country

i am not sure if duckduckgo is passing on the IP or if somehow bing has partnered with data centers or ISPs to try to guess the IPs going into duckduckgo.

I also may be sensing this correlation and it's just random and not there. i could be wrong.

Does anyone else ever notice this or wonder about this?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Use 4get so you don't reveal your location

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

the ad results on top and sometimes after you clicked "more" are definetly using IP geolocation.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

does anyone know if duckduckgo's policies allow this or if this is contrary to what they say happens?

i also am still not sure if i am right about this happening. i am just noticing it more and more, and i think i am noticing it more because bing has gotten more skillful with determining things, not because of duckduckgo changing that much.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (2 children)

If you keep clicking more results and just about any search you do, you'll probably notice it'll start showing you a bunch of results based on your ip. I have my location turned off on my phone and in my browser and it still does it. Haven't figured out a way to stop it either

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Use 4get, you can search DDG without revealing your IP

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

but duckduckgo isn't supposed to track its users and it's supposed to get results from bing without bing knowing your IP address, right?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

also there's not always an obvious correlation. so for instance if my IP is in New Mexico, and I am looking for "best new vacation destinations" I could get results like "Vacation Getaways to Mexico" and also "2024 Vacation Destinations" and also "Best Places to Visit in France" and also "Fun Destinations in New Mexico" and they are all mixed together, but it feels like the total is possibly informed by the a guess of the IP even if duckduckgo isn't passing that on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Just checked your vacation search and I'm getting a best of lists from different websites. So far it looks like the usual places people would want to visit and nothing specific to where I'm located.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

the original thing that seemed strange to me may have been a coincidence then.

my actual experience was worse than the example. it's like i was using a berlin based IP address, and did a search for luggage, and then the result was "Berlin Luggage Ecofriendly Designs." It could have been coincidental, but a top result had the city of the IP in it and there was nothing I mentioned in the search related to the IP. I also use a browser and OS system such that duckduckgo should know from javascript that I am likely and English speaker.

But sometimes coincidences happen.