The Tor Project [discourages exit enclaves][1]:

Overall the use of enclaves is not advised for these two main reasons:

- They will not be supported in future versions of Tor (> 0.2.3.x)

- They do not fit any particular threat model

[1]: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/ExitEnclav...

It's also important to note that not only do they run a Tor exit enclave, they also run a .onion hidden service, which unlike the enclave is not deprecated in the next version, and means that DDG can be accessed without leaving the Tor network.

Everytime I don't get the results I want through DDG (which happens rarely) I just type !sp + searchterm into my search bar and it searches via startpage.com, which uses googles search results without my IP address or searches being recorded, no identifying or tracking cookies are used and SSL encryption is set by default.

That is pretty awesome.

I'm curious: was the privacy focus by the DDG guys always there, or was it pushed after they found it was a nice advertising point?

Either way, I think this is a good enough reason for me to finally make the switch.

When you look at the timeline[1], the first event is "DontTrack.us", a website[2] dedicated to pointing out google tracking, and linking to DDG in the end.

So privacy has always been their focus. It is a nice advertising point, but pushed from the beginning.

1: https://duckduckgo.com/traffic.html

2: http://donttrack.us/

That timeline begins 1.5 - 2 years after DDG launched.

I remember the first time (about 6 months ago) I took a look at their about page there was a big emphasis on them not tracking your searches, so I think the sentiment has always been there.

DDG launched in 2008, so data from 6 months ago doesn't really speak to whether privacy was a part of the original purpose.

In the very beginning, Gabriel was more focused on the instant answers and hadn't thought much of privacy -- users brought it up after he launched it on HN.