Does DuckDuckGo retain any server-side logs or telemetry after I clear local history?
Executive summary
DuckDuckGo portrays itself as a privacy-first search engine and multiple third‑party explainers state it “does not store individual search queries” and doesn’t keep queries tied to personal identifiers [1]. Public monitoring sites in the search results focus on uptime and outages, not logging or telemetry; none of the monitoring pages in the provided sources address DuckDuckGo’s server‑side retention practices (p1_s1–[8], [2]1).
1. What the sources you supplied actually cover — uptime and third‑party writeups
The search results you provided are overwhelmingly site‑status and outage trackers (IsDown, Downdetector, IsItDownRightNow, UpDownRadar, EntireWeb, DownForEveryone, etc.), which report service availability and user complaints but do not document DuckDuckGo’s server‑side logging or telemetry practices [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]. A single third‑party explainer (UMA Technology) directly addresses logging and asserts that “DuckDuckGo does not store individual search queries” and that searches are not linked to personal identifiers [1]. The available set therefore mixes operational status reporting with one privacy‑focused article; it does not include DuckDuckGo’s official privacy policy or technical whitepaper in these results.
2. What the UMA Technology article claims — a clear privacy claim
UMA Technology states plainly that DuckDuckGo “does not store individual search queries,” framing that as the core answer: searches are not retained or associated with user identities [1]. That claim, as presented in the source you supplied, is categorical: it says DuckDuckGo “does not store individual search queries” and contrasts DuckDuckGo to other engines that “keep detailed logs” [1]. This source is the closest thing in your results to an answer about server‑side retention.
3. Limitations in the available reporting — crucial gaps
None of the supplied status/outage pages include information about server‑side telemetry, retention windows, aggregated analytics, IP address handling, or whether DuckDuckGo uses ephemeral logs for abuse prevention, debugging, or legal responses (p1_s1–[8], [2]1). The UMA article asserts a policy but is a secondary source; it does not cite DuckDuckGo’s primary documentation in the provided snippet, so the claim in that article stands without corroborating excerpts in your set [1]. In short: the supplied sources do not comprehensively document DuckDuckGo’s technical telemetry practices or any post‑search retention nuances.
4. Conflicting perspectives and what’s missing from your results
Your results show two distinct buckets: status trackers (which reveal nothing about privacy beyond noting the service is up or down) and a single privacy explainer that affirms no query logging (p1_s1–[8], [1], [2]1). The source set lacks direct primary evidence from DuckDuckGo (company policy, transparency report, engineering blog) and independent technical audits; therefore competing viewpoints — for example, security researchers who’ve measured server behavior or reporting of limited ephemeral logging for operational needs — are not present in your results. Available sources do not mention any independent confirmation or technical detail beyond UMA Technology’s summary [1].
5. How to interpret “after I clear local history” given the gaps
From the supplied materials you can reasonably take away that a secondary explainer claims DuckDuckGo does not store individual queries [1]. But because the monitoring sites do not discuss server logs and no official DuckDuckGo policy text is in your set, it is not possible from these sources to determine whether DuckDuckGo retains any ephemeral server logs, aggregated telemetry, or metadata after a user clears local history; available sources do not mention those specifics (p1_s1–[2]1).
6. What to read next (based on what’s missing here)
To answer your original question definitively, you need primary documents and independent audits that are not among your current results: DuckDuckGo’s official privacy policy, technical blog posts about telemetry, any transparency reports, or third‑party audits. The current search results do not include those items, so they cannot support a conclusive answer about server‑side logs or telemetry retention after clearing local history (p1_s1–[2]1).
7. Bottom line for readers who want practical guidance now
Based on the provided sources, the only explicit privacy claim in your set is the UMA Technology summary that DuckDuckGo “does not store individual search queries” [1]. But because the supplied status pages do not cover logging and no primary company documentation or audits are included, you should treat that claim as an uncorroborated secondary source in this bundle and seek DuckDuckGo’s official policy documents or independent technical analysis for confirmation (p1_s1–[2]1).