Get a cookie control app in any case
Thank you Brendan Eich @Brave for calling out DuckDuckGo! They severely screwed up. That's a shame.
I've been supporting DuckDuckGo from very early on. I knew a significant amount (not all!) of their search results were gleaned from Microsoft's Bing. Note that I ALSO know that Bing itself gleans a significant amount (not all!) of their search results from Google!
But I know the cookie biz well enough to put control of cookies into MY HANDS and no one else's. On macOS I use, support and even beta test the Cookie app from SweetPea Productions. It has consistently worked brilliantly. (Thank you Raymond). No cookie runs free on my computers.
So, shameful as it is that DuckDuckGo made fools of themselves, I Don't Care. I've had idiotic chat warz with even Internet experts. (Hello, Adam). DuckDuckGo works great, if not better than Google in most cases. What are the alternatives?
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That's about it, other than the sad wannabes and antiques.
I do regularly run Google in pursuit of its obvious expertise above all other search engines. But I kill its cookies as well as its dialing home via a 'reverse firewall' (Little Snitch app), without regret. I stick with DuckDuckGo because they've successfully and consistently improved themselves over time and I appreciate what bit of anonymity they do provide.
Sadly, what a black eye DDG has given themselves. Stop Hitting Yourself! Stop Hitting Yourself! . . .