DuckDuckGo Introduces 'Email Protection' That Can Remove Trackers From Emails

DuckDuckGo, Email Protection

While most online communications have shifted to social media networks and messaging platforms, a lot of people still use emails.

If compared to its younger counterparts, emails can be considered a relic from the past. But still, emails do have a number of advantages. For example, it allows both parties to communicate more formally. Oppose to when people talk through social media networks or messaging apps, where things are more casual, lots of people use email for business purposes.

Another advantage of using emails, is the ability for marketers to track their recipients.

Marketers can mass-email potential buyers using obnoxious marketing emails that crowd people's inboxes. And the trackers are used to know when the recipients opened the email.

Typically, the trackers are embedded inside the pictures and icons inside the emails. The only effective way to avoid them, is to turn off embedded images.

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused search engine. And here, it's offering its own solution.

Read: How Email Trackers Are Watching People's Inboxes, And How To Block Them

DuckDuckGo, Email Protection

The company announced a service which can strip emails from any embedded trackers.

Calling it the 'Email Protection', the service provides users with a "Personal Duck Address" (@duck.com) that receives the emails, to then remove hidden data collection items like tracking pixels inside images, to then forward the emails to users' regular inbox, like Gmail, Yahoo! or any other.

DuckDuckGo's Email Protection is an automated process that does not read or save users' emails.

What it does, is to just detect those pesky trackers, remove them, and send the email to the users as the intended recipients.

After that, Email Protection permanently deletes the email from its server.

Besides removing trackers, Email Protection can also tell users the type and number of trackers removed from each email.

What's more, this tool goes well with DuckDuckGo's app or extension, in which users can anonymize their email address by creating a random Private Duck Address, to then use with websites and services that may want to spam or share email data with third parties.

However, as opposed to Personal Duck Addresses, Private Duck Addresses are literally on-demand anonymous accounts, meaning that they are disposable.

Users can deactivate them at any time if spam gets out of control.

DuckDuckGo, Email Protection

On its announcement, DuckDuckGo said:

Reading your email should be a private activity.

You may be surprised to learn that 70% of emails contain trackers that can detect when you’ve opened a message, where you were when you opened it, and what device you were using. If that isn’t creepy enough, this email data can be used to profile you, including to target you with ads, and influence the content you see online.

Ever open an email and see a related ad about it soon thereafter? Yup, blame email trackers. This data about you is also usually sent directly to third parties, most likely without your consent.

Most existing email privacy solutions come with significant tradeoffs. You either have to switch email services or apps entirely, or degrade your email experience by hiding all images. We believe protecting your personal information from leaking to third parties should be simple and seamless, like the rest of DuckDuckGo’s privacy protection bundle.

This tool should be useful for those who care about their online privacy, and don't like being followed around by trackers from marketers.

DuckDuckGo announced Email Protections as it enters beta.

It is free to use, but those who wish to use it needs to join a waiting list.

Published: 
26/07/2021