Why is Google using the Duck.com domain?

    There was an interesting discussion on the Hacker News site about why Google set the redirect on Duck.com . Enemies suggest that this is some kind of typosquatting against the "competitor" DuckDuckGo.com .

    DuckDuckGo.com - a hybrid search engine that has been working since 2008, without search spam, almost no ads, no tracking of users (completely anonymous), supports hot keys and other cool stuff . In general, a kind of geek "opposition" Google, created for a tiny group of protest voters. The site’s audience last year was about 200 thousand per day , generally speaking, almost no one knows about it.

    One who believes that Google uses Duck.com for typosquatting can be someone who sees Google as the “new Microsoft” (now fashionable point of view) and admits that Dobra Corporation is able to use its monopoly position in the market and financial resources for dishonest competition. Believe it or not is a private matter for everyone.

    But in defense of Google, the following must be said. First, the Duck.com domain existed long before the geeky DuckDuckGo search engine. Secondly, Google got the domain in 2010 quite by accident, as part of a deal to purchase On2 Technologies, the developer of TrueMotion video codecs. The former On2 website has an information stub explaining the situation. Duck is simply the former name of On2 Technologies.

    Only one question remains unanswered: why did Google decide to place its search on the duck.com site and not sell this domain to Disney or, at worst, put a redirect to the Wikipedia article about ducks . Have they forgotten about their code of ethics and the slogan "don't be evil"? Or do they seriously believe that duck.com visitors really want to google.com?

    Also popular now: