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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

#51

Post by thought_alarm »

rorydh wrote: post #2

The DuckDuckGo guys are not gonna be happy...

Sending your searches to DuckDuckGo is OK because they're committed to protecting your privacy.

Sending your searches to Apple is bad because... they're also committed to protected your privacy but they're Apple so it's a big conspiracy.

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#53

Post by wilg »

privong wrote: post #18
[deleted] wrote: post #12

[deleted]

The gist summary on TFA says: > even if you've disabled all use of Spotlight Suggestions and sharing of Usage and Diagnostics data

praseodym is pointing out that there are two checkboxes called "Spotlight Suggestions". One in System Preferences, and one in Safari.

It's unclear which OP unchecked.

Screenshots of the two options: http://imgur.com/a/TWDxy

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#54

Post by declan »

itg wrote: post #43
declan wrote: post #39

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?" Doe…

>How do I delete the records of my searches saved on Apple's serves? (Google lets me delete my search history.) Google deletes the search history you see but everything is still stored on the servers.

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/465?hl=en "When you delete items from your Search History, they are no longer associated with your Google Account."

Whether you think that's sufficient or not, at least I have the option. And the last octet in my IP address is automatically modified after 9 months and deleted after 18 months even if I don't do anything. If you can tell me how I can do the same thing with Apple's search log files, and what Apple's IP address retention policy for its search log files, I'd be much obliged...

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#55

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

thought_alarm wrote: post #51
rorydh wrote: post #2

The DuckDuckGo guys are not gonna be happy...

Sending your searches to DuckDuckGo is OK because they're committed to protecting your privacy. Sending your searches to Apple is bad because... they're also committed to protected your privacy but they're Apple so it's a big conspiracy.

You may have missed the point. Sending them to DDG is OK because the user _intended to send them to DDG_. That was the entire purpose of the user's searching experience to begin with. Apple being strung into it is different - the user doesn't need Apple's involvement to complete the search.

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#56

Post by thought_alarm »

The author of this post is confused about Safari and Spotlight privacy settings.

Spotlight search suggestions are a major new advertised feature in OS X and iOS.

To disable Spotlight Search Suggestions in Safari, open the Safari preferences and de-select "Search > Include Spotlight Suggestions".

To disable Spotlight Search Suggestions in the system Spotlight search menu, open the System Preferences and de-select "Spotlight -> Spotlight Suggestions".

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#57

Post by wilg »

Post seems to indicate that the wrong "Spotlight Suggestions" was unchecked. One in System Preferences (which the post mentions disabling), and one in Safari itself (that the post does not mention).

I would expect the one in System Preferences to disable suggestions in the system-wide search only, and the one in Safari to disable suggestions in Safari only.

Screenshots of the two options: http://imgur.com/a/TWDxy

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#58

Post by jake223 »

A few years ago there was a minor scandal about microsoft's Bing "stealing" google results through the internet explorer search box. It seems strange that apple would have that kind of motivations, given that they don't have a search engine of their own... Here's the accusatory blog post google made: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-uses-...

Re: Safari is sending every search query to Apple

#59

Post by chockablock »

miles wrote: post #24

Here's a tweet from Edward Marczak back in June about this behavior: https://twitter.com/marczak/status/481818945318428673 with a recommendation to block api.smoot.apple.com.

That seems to be about Spotlight searches, not web searches using Safari.

(And arguably seems like a worse behavior to me, as my Spotlight search terms are often for private info I'm trying to locate on my disk.)

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