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Safari is sending every search query to Apple

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Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#31

Post by zobzu »

TheLoneWolfling wrote: post #19
pserwylo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For browsing, Mozilla is probably the least likely to want to do this sort of logging. There are probably more niche browsers that focus on privacy that I'm unaware of too. As for other Apple products, you can run Linux on a MacBook quite happily (Linus does, after all) and there are some nice Android ROMs which focus on freedom, such as Replicant.

[Citation Needed] Mozilla's "Safe browsing", for instance. If you're going to go with something FF based, at least choose something with such things disabled by default. For instance, I run PM.

Firefox Nightly also has a tracking protection in about:config => privacy.trackingprotection.enabled its off by default

seems to also block some adverts when on. (probably because those adverts are also trackers)

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#32

Post by [deleted] »

bane wrote: post #13
dmethvin wrote: post #3

Google and Microsoft do this too when you enable real-time searching via the address bar, but both are pretty good at letting you know it happens. Doesn't Safari have some kind of first-run experience where the user gets some notice on this?

Google and Microsoft also run search engines.

[deleted]

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#33

Post by shekyboy »

Doesn't seem like a data collection initiative. It seems more like a complementary search engine. Apple spotlight search is trying to find other contextual results which may not come back from typical search engines. For example: Apps, Music etc.

I am sure you can directly search on google or duckduckgo to avoid that.

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#35

Post by AznHisoka »

bane wrote: post #13
dmethvin wrote: post #3

Google and Microsoft do this too when you enable real-time searching via the address bar, but both are pretty good at letting you know it happens. Doesn't Safari have some kind of first-run experience where the user gets some notice on this?

Google and Microsoft also run search engines.

The App Store is a search engine as well.

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#36

Post by gumby »

ares2012 wrote: post #11
throwawayaway wrote: post #6

It's a bug, there's no way they did this on purpose.

Why is there no way they did this on purpose? Understanding common searches would seem like valuable data to use to improve Siri, et al.

I actually personally don't mind sending my search data to Apple but I would consider myself an outlier in this regard -- it should be opt in AND especially, given their supposed commitment to privacy, is a botch.

Let's hope they did _not_ do this on purpose.

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#37

Post by cottonseed »

onewaystreet wrote: post #25
adamcarson wrote: post #22

Tim Cook last month: “Our business is not based on having information about you. You’re not our product ... I think everyone has to ask, how do companies make their money? Follow the money. And if they’re making money mainly by collecting gobs of personal data, I think you have a right to be worried.” “We take a very different view of this than a lot of other companies have. Our view is, when we design a new service,…

This doesn't contradict that. Spotlight provides web search results, how do people think that works?

This is (1) in Safari, and (2) with Spotlight Suggestions disabled. Spotlight and Safari should be able to get search engine results or suggestions from the search engine without needing to go through Apple. We can speculate on what Apple is doing with this data, but it certainly seems to violate the user's "right to privacy," if not more.

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#38

Post by Alphasite_ »

gumby wrote: post #29
onewaystreet wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't contradict that. Spotlight provides web search results, how do people think that works?

According to TFA, "In Yosemite, all Safari web searches are sent to not only the search engine you've selected ... but also to Apple..." So as you say Spotlight web searches have to contact some sort of search engine, but I don't know of a legitimate reason why Apple should need to know about them as well .

Safari also shows the top spotlight search result iirc.

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#39

Post by declan »

Assuming that Apple does disclose this adequately -- meaning they'd be legally in the clear -- I'd still want to know the answers to: How do I delete the records of my searches saved on Apple's serves? (Google lets me delete my search history.) How do I randomize my unique ID? How many FedGov or state/local agencies have showed up demanding info on which users searched for "dirty bombs" or "how to join Al Qaeda?" Does Apple always require a warrant? Etc.

Separately, Kevin McArthur (author of the Pro PHP book) is reporting this evening on Twitter that Spotlight is harvesting user locations after updating to Yosemite, apparently before the opt-out option is presented: https://twitter.com/KevinSMcArthur/status/523975643340353537 https://twitter.com/KevinSMcArthur/status/523977472627335168

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#40

Post by adamcarson »

onewaystreet wrote: post #25
adamcarson wrote: post #22

Tim Cook last month: “Our business is not based on having information about you. You’re not our product ... I think everyone has to ask, how do companies make their money? Follow the money. And if they’re making money mainly by collecting gobs of personal data, I think you have a right to be worried.” “We take a very different view of this than a lot of other companies have. Our view is, when we design a new service,…

This doesn't contradict that. Spotlight provides web search results, how do people think that works?

I'm not sure it's a contradiction either, more of an omission, he doesn't specifically address search data in that interview. However the comments are aimed squarely at Google so the PR message rings a bit hollow.

I don't find it surprising that they're collecting as much data as they can, it just seems odd to call out competitors who do similar things.

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