DuckDuckGo takes a new step in search of the definitive tools for protecting privacy on the Internet, and now it focuses on e-mails. The service presented Email Protection, a tool that detects and removes the trackers included in the emails that arrive in our inbox.
This feature is currently under development, but will soon be publicly available. What it does is provide users with an alternative email address (@ duck.com), through which it is responsible for finding the trackers that typically appear in emails. Once that task is accomplished, DuckDuckGo automatically forwards messages to people’s primary use account.
In this way, the service aims to strip emails of any unwanted content that can be used to target advertisements and generate a profile of online habits. Email Protection will be included in the DuckDuckGo apps for iOS and Android, but its functions will also be available from the mobile browser and extensions for desktop browsers. In the latter case it will be possible generate other @ duck.com addresses on the fly, for even more alternative uses.
DuckDuckGo set out to remove trackers from emails
According to DuckDuckGo, 70% of emails in circulation have trackers of some kind. The vast majority detect where, when and from what devices messages are accessed, among other data that are mostly collected without the consent of the users.
Email Protection aims to end this problem. The tool proposes to use the account @ duck.com on sites or services that may not be entirely trustworthy, or where we do not want to leave our main email address to avoid spam. It may be the case of a newsletter, a free trial or to register on a temporary use website.
All emails sent to that address will be forwarded to our regular mail without the trackers detected by DuckDuckGo. In fact, in the messages the service will indicate what trackers were eliminated and from which companies did they come. It is worth noting that the service will not store the content of the emails, nor will it store information related to the sending and receiving addresses.
Most of the existing email privacy solutions come with significant trade-offs. You must change email services or applications completely, or downgrade your user experience by hiding all images. We believe that protecting your personal information from being leaked to third parties should be simple and hassle-free, like the rest of DuckDuckGo’s privacy protection suite.
Email Protection wants to simplify email privacy
DuckDuckGo’s new Email Protection feature is very similar to the one introduced by Apple on iCloud + during MMWC 2021. The goal is to make our real email addresses available only to friends and acquaintances, and we don’t waste time filtering unwanted content.
It is also important to note that @ duck.com addresses can be easily disabled, If necessary. This can be very useful if the services they were used on start to send a lot of spam.
At the moment, Email Protection is in beta phase and with a waiting list for those who want to try it. To access it, they must download the DuckDuckGo application for iOS or Android, enter Settings> Beta Features> Email Protection. From there they can request to enter the list, awaiting the platform’s authorization.
“Having control over your privacy should not be complicated or require compromises. Our mission is to make it simple and stress-free for email and everything you do online. It is privacy, simplified,” they said.