[Desktop] Duckduckgo, Search History & Post Requests | Add "Post" search method into Brave's Settings

[ACodingGenie]

Description

Alright, so I am not sure if anyone has mentioned this problem before, I searched the forums but couldn’t find much on it. DuckDuckGo (DDG) offers a method of not including search queries in the URL in their settings called “Use POST requests rather than GET.” Whenever you search directly on DDG’s website with that setting enabled, you will notice that the URL bar does not include the search query and just shows the “duckduckgo.com” alone and likewise in your browser’s search history. Furthermore, you can click or hover over the entry in the search history and you’ll find that you cannot get to the actual search results but only DDG’s main website. This is “extremely” important for privacy reasons to some of us, myself included, and Brave does not honor that. For example, if you searched “Youtube” directly in Brave’s search bar with that setting enabled on DDG, you’ll find that your search query is actually included in the URL bar and consequently in your search history. From there you can click on that particular entry in your search history and get back the search results. This is probably reproducible in every version of Brave browser even though I have not tested that anywhere besides Windows and Linux. This is nothing new but I thought someone would’ve brought it up and maybe a "POST" search method could be made available in Brave's settings.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Described above but first head on over to DDG’s website and go to “Other Settings,” then “Privacy.”
2. Turn the option for “GET Requests” to off. Important: Make sure not to clear your browser cookies (particularly for those using Cookie AutoDelete).
3. Now open up a new tab and type in a search query directly into Brave’s address bar (with DDG being your default search engine ofcourse). Notice how the URL bar displays the search query following DDG’s web address.
4. Now press either CTRL + H or click on the three lines to the upper right of the browser to open Brave’s menu and click on History. You will notice that your latest entry for DDG only says “DuckDuckGo.” However, hover over the entry and click on it, and you’ll be able to view the search results.
5. If you were to type in the same search query by into DDG’s website directly rather than Brave’s address bar, you’ll notice only the website’s address will show up in the address bar NOT the actual query. If you try to get back to the page using your browser’s history, it will only bring you back to DDG’s main website and not your search results.

Actual result:

Typing “YouTube” into Brave’s address bar, the URL bar shows: https://safe.duckduckgo.com/?q=youtube&atb=v230-5rk

The search history shows while hovering over (lower left):

Typing “YouTube” into DDG’s website directly, the URL bar shows: https://safe.duckduckgo.com/

Search history shows in the lower left shows: Note: the screenshot doesn’t show what I’m hovering over in the screenshots but you’ll just have to take my word for it, haha.

Expected result:

URL bar in Brave should show the address for DDG only and not the search query when searching directly through Brave’s address bar just like it does when searching through DDG directly. The search history should also not allow the user to get back to those particular search results or see the particular query in the URL when either clicking the link or hovering over it.

Reproduces how often:

Anytime, every time and all the time.

Brave version (brave://version info)

System OS: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS & Windows 10 Brave Version: [Version 1.11.104 Chromium: 84.0.4147.105 (Official Build) (64-bit)]

Version/Channel Information:

I have not tested any other channels other than the official build, but I would assume this issue reproduces unless a "POST" method has been introduced for searching in Brave's address bar recently.

Other Additional Information:

• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Shields? N/A
• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Rewards? N/A
• Is the issue reproducible on the latest version of Chrome? Yes

[rebron]

cc: @diracdeltas Lengthy issue but to summarize this is specific to DDG and using DDG from the omnibox and having set the setting below to POST to hide the url from a hover (which shows in the bottom left corner) on DDG search result entries in History. We're inclined to p5 this one.

[diracdeltas]

Does this work in any browser? (if you set DDG to default search engine)

We should ask DDG if they offer an omnibox-compatible POST endpoint.

[ACodingGenie]

This does work with Vivaldi, I have used it in the past but I prefer to use Brave instead. They include a setting in the browser which the user can toggle on to turn on POST requests. However, they also partner with DDG for their tracker radar and stuff so idk.