Apple held talks with DuckDuckGo to replace Alphabet subsidiary Google’s search engine as the default for the private mode on Apple’s Safari browser, but ultimately rejected the idea, the U.S. government’s antitrust trial revealed Wednesday via transcripts.
Leah Nylen for Bloomberg News:
US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Wednesday that he would unseal the testimony of DuckDuckGo Chief Executive Officer Gabriel Weinberg and Apple executive John Giannandrea, both of whom testified in the Washington trial in closed sessions.
Weinberg testified that DuckDuckGo had about 20 meetings and phone calls with Apple executives, including the head of Safari, in 2018 and 2019 about becoming the default search engine for private browsing mode. In private mode, Safari doesn’t track websites that a user visits or keep a history of what a person has accessed.
But Giannandrea, who joined Apple as the head of search in 2018, said that to his knowledge Apple hadn’t considered switching to DuckDuckGo. In a February 2019 email to other Apple executives, Giannandrea said it was “probably a bad idea” to switch to DuckDuckGo for private browsing in Safari.
“The motivating factor for setting DuckDuckGo as the default for private browsing was an assumption” that it would be more private, Giannandrea testified. Because DuckDuckGo relies on Bing for its search information, it also likely provides Microsoft some user information, he said, which led him to believe that DuckDuckGo’s “marketing about privacy is somewhat incongruent with the details.”
If Apple seriously wanted to switch to DuckDuckGo, “I would probably insist on doing a lot more due diligence with DuckDuckGo,” he said.
MacDailyNews Note: DuckDuckGo’s privacy policy clearly states that the search engine does not “save or share your search or browsing history when you search on DuckDuckGo or use our apps and extensions.”
MacDailyNews Take: In the time it took you to read this, Apple likely considered and rejected 20+ proposals worldwide. So what?
That said, we use and recommend DuckDuckGo. As we wrote back in 2019:
If you haven’t already, give DuckDuckGo a try today!
Apple allows users to easily switch to the privacy-respecting DuckDuckGo search engine on Safari:
macOS:
1. Click Safari in the top menu bar.
2. Select Preferences.
3. Click on Search.
4. Select DuckDuckGo.
iOS:
1. Open Settings.
2. Navigate to and tap on Safari.
3. Tap on Search Engine.
4. Select DuckDuckGo.
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So wait, DuckDuckGo “relies on Bing for its search information, it also likely provides Microsoft some user information, he said, which led him to believe that DuckDuckGo’s “marketing about privacy is somewhat incongruent with the details.””
I did not know that and I feel duped. Sounds like DDG has basically skinned someone else’s product. This is potentially very damaging information to be made known in the public domain.
Would appreciate hearing other’s perspectives.
According to Wikipedia:
“DuckDuckGo’s results are a compilation of “over 400″ sources according to itself, including Bing, Yahoo! Search BOSS, Wolfram Alpha, Yandex, and its own web crawler (the DuckDuckBot); but none from Google.[65][3][66][67][56] It also uses data from crowdsourced sites such as Wikipedia, to populate knowledge panel boxes to the right of the search results.[67][68]”
IMO if DDG is doing its due diligence for the ‘Prime Directive’ of privacy they set for themselves, it is just as secure as Apple’s aggregation of user data when using Apple services. i think any searches you do via DDG would probably look to Bing as if DDG itself was making the query.
Thanks for the thoughtful, intelligent feedback. In essence you are saying that DDG is like a VPN.
Yes, a VPN for search is probably a good description. Unfortunately, like any other search engine it doesn’t have any controls to protect you from those result sites generating data from you visiting them. That level is probably left up to your browser or some plug-in/extension.
Apple end this discussion and come out with your own search engine.
Apple Maps to this day is second fiddle to Google Maps and you want them to be second fiddle in search, as well. No thanks…
Keep in mind that DDG used to try to be results neutral until COVID, when they came out saying they would start to censor some results, but not just related to COVID.
Not sure if there remains any net-neutal search engines but I have read that Brave may still offer one.
Keep in mind that DDG used to try to be results neutral until COVID, when they came out saying they would start to censor some results, but not just related to COVID.
Not sure if there remains any net-neurtal search engines but I have read that Brave may still offer one.
Pay you, or MDN, for switching? Google hasn’t given you a dime for being Apple’s bitch.
I’ve used Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi, Brave, and Safari. My preference are as follows: Safari (for anything dealing with financials), Opera (for financials that Safari can’t render properly), Brave (for normal browsing), Vivaldi (for when Brave can’t render some sites); in this order. I deleted Chrome because it no longer suited my needs. Both on my Mac and Windows. Unfortunately, I still use windows because of work.
I’ve been waiting for Apple to come out with their own search engine. Sadly, I don’t think it will happen in my lifetime.
DDG is pretty bad. Good intentions, but the search is nothing. Bing, until something better comes out
“… but ultimately rejected the idea …” Smart move. Stay with Google and keep receiving a $19 BILLION a year bonus from Google, or switch to anything else, and stop receiving a $19 BILLION a year bonus. Actually … not a very tough decision …
At this point even if Apple and Google end the agreement, given a choice most iOS users will continue to use Google as their default. Apple will just be out the ‘free’ money.
DuckDuckGo sucks like Google!