Once this information hit the public and people began to become aware that virtually all of their digital communications were being tracked, traced, and data-based, DuckDuckGo’s traffic began to increase at an impressive rate. Perhaps nothing has done more to improve the site’s traffic than the revelation of the NSA’s PRISM program. Even though this is virtually chump change compared to global search giant Google, Google actually named them as a competitor in 2012 when it was accused of being a monopoly. By May of 2012 they were responsible for about 1.5 million search queries each day. Hiring their first employee about three years later, it certainly took a while for the search company to get off the ground. Launched in September of 2008, DuckDuckGo not only aimed to protect the privacy of those using its search engine, but also sought to give all users the same results, avoiding personalized search results.

Google Search has been a popular hub for third party monitoring, which makes Internet users ask, “Is there a more secure search engine available?” There is with DuckDuckGo. With the NSA and Edward Snowden making headlines around the world, it’s enough to make any user of the Internet think twice about online security and wonder if they are being monitored or not.

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