DuckDuckGo Releases Free Email Forwarding Service That Removes Trackers

Search engine DuckDuckGo has opened its email service Email Protection to all users. The service has been in closed beta since last year, but is now in open beta. The service forwards emails and strips them of trackers.

Email Protection works from an app for iOS and Android or a browser extension on desktop, says DuckDuckGo. Email Protection is not an email service like Gmail and Outlook, where users can read and create an inbox themselves. Instead users create an @duck.com email address, which they can use for other websites and services. For example, if users sign up for a newsletter with an @duck.com email address, that newsletter goes to DuckDuckGo first.

Users can create an unlimited number of aliases and have them forwarded to their regular email address. When mail is forwarded, DuckDuckGo removes the trackers and also shows which trackers the service has found. The service also tries to upgrade unencrypted links to https links. DuckDuckGo introduced the service last year. DuckDuckGo says not to save emails. The organization promises to support the e-mail service “for the long term”.