This New DuckDuckGo Email Service Protects You From Third-Party Trackers

This is your chance to get a free DuckDuckGo email address that will protect you from ad companies spying on your inbox.

Plus, nothing looks cooler than an ‘@duck.com’ email address.

Did you know that email trackers exist in more than 70% of mailing lists? That’s according to a 2017 study, which means things could have even gotten worse since then. Email trackers are an advertisers’ gold mine: they let them figure out when you open an email, where you are when you open it, and which device you’re using. Yes, that’s right, there are other marketing evils out there, not just Facebook!

Removing trackers puts an end to this practice. It removes all the data points list builders are using to create advertising profiles for you. Which, you have guessed it, they then resale to anyone interested.

To help you maintain your online privacy, DuckDuckGo is now offering a free ‘@duck.com’ email address, which will automatically forward emails to your regular inbox once their contents has been analyzed for trackers and removing any tracker found. The company will even offer unique disposable forwarding addresses which can be generated easily in DuckDuckGo’s mobile browser or through desktop browser extensions.

DuckDuckGo recommends that you use the personal email address for friends and contacts you know, while the disposable addresses will be best served when signing up for newsletters, free trials, or any other website asking you for an email to join.

Fighting for email privacy has been at the heart of DuckDuckGo’s privacy-friendly approach ever since the company introduced its search engine and browser that helps remove trackers while surfing the web.

DuckDuckGo’s CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, explained that consumer research showed that asking people to switch to an entirely new email address and provider would be a tough pitch. So instead of creating a new email service, the Email Protection tool acts as an intermediary layer guarding access to your inbox:

“Our high-level goal is to make simple privacy protection available for everyone anywhere they are. So we’re trying to build this into any major browser or operating system or email provider you use.”

For more information and to set up your ‘@duck.com’ email address, visit the dedicated DuckDuckGo website.