There is currently a waiting list for the DuckDuckGo Email Protection service, which debuted as a limited beta last year. There is no longer a waiting list, and everyone can begin using the service immediately.
Like Apple’s Hide My Email, the privacy-focused email forwarding service eliminates trackers and lets you generate temporary email accounts without switching providers.
Background
In spite of the plethora of messaging apps available today, email is still the most popular way to get in touch with others. This year, there are an estimated 4.2 billion email subscribers, and each day, humans will send and receive more than 300 billion emails.
It’s unfortunate that a large percentage of those messages are spam. The bulk of these emails also keep tabs on when we open them, which is really annoying. To do this, tracking pixels, which are images of a single pixel and are specific to each email, is used. As soon as we load the image in the email, the server records that we have “seen” it and so opened the message.
In order for businesses to track who opens their emails, the links within them are often customized by appending a unique code to the URL.DuckDuckGo, a browser business with a focus on privacy, released a beta version of its Email Protection service last year.
We are pleased to share that DuckDuckGo’s Email Protection has entered beta testing. You don’t have to switch email providers or clients to take advantage of our free email forwarding service, which blocks email trackers and safeguards your inbox.
Most current approaches to protecting inbox anonymity involve substantial compromises. Either you’ll have to find a new email service or app altogether, or you’ll have to settle for a less desirable one by disabling image previews in your inbox. We think it’s important that, like the rest of DuckDuckGo’s privacy protections, preventing your data from leaking to third parties is easy and transparent.
The Duck Duck Go Email Privacy Waitlist Has Ended
The company has just declared that waiting is no longer necessary and that everyone will have instant access.
The beta version of DuckDuckGo Email Protection is now accessible to everyone, as we have eliminated the waiting list. Now is the time to secure your @duck.com email address.
Without having to switch email providers or apps, you can quickly and easily generate an infinite number of new, private email addresses with DuckDuckGo Email Protection, a free email forwarding service.
We’ve also made it possible to respond to emails from your Duck Addresses, enhanced protection against link tracking, and improved security for both encrypted and unencrypted email links.
During the closed beta, DuckDuckGo claims to have tracked the percentage of inbound emails containing trackers and found that 85 percent of them do.
When an employee clicks on an insecure (HTTP) link in an email, the organization checks to see if a secure (HTTPS) alternative is available. If another file exists, it will use that one. Finally, you can maintain your email anonymity by responding from your free @duck.com address.
The Process of Signing up For the Free Service
If you haven’t already, get the DuckDuckGo iPhone app (or update to the newest version), then open it and tap the gear in the upper-right corner, select Settings, and last, tap Email Protection.
DuckDuckGo has extensions for Firefox, Chrome, Brave, and Edge that make this functionality available on your mobile device or Mac. There is a queue for the Mac app at the moment.
