Apple considered ditching Google for DuckDuckGo in Safari’s private mode | But Apple exec argued DuckDuckGo wasn’t as private as believed.::But Apple exec argued DuckDuckGo wasn’t as private as believed.

  • RQG@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    The classic “let’s use the worst option because the alternative isn’t perfect” fallacy.

      • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        “then why aren’t you using Bing?”

        angny mob turns to face me

        “that’s what I thought lol”

        • funker@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          bing looks way too Microsoft-y. With its picture background etc. I don’t like the search result and the structure of them. Duck Duck Go follows an easier navigation like Google does. Which is very handy sometimes.

        • Veticia@lemmy.ml
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          10 months ago

          I’m using Bing. For me it’s about the quality of search results, and Bing got way better in the last few years, while Google was going progressively worse and worse.

          And while I’m willing to give some of my privacy for convenience Microsoft just feels like a lesser of two evils at this point.

          • Weslee@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            I have not used bing loads, but when I have tried it, I have literally never found what I was looking for

    • Fuzzypyro@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      But he’s actually right. It does serve ads and it uses bing trackers despite them claiming they don’t track you.

      • Tetsuo@jlai.lu
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        10 months ago

        Also DDG is US based and has to submit to all the privacy invading American agencies. And they could be under a gag order nobody would ever know.

        If privacy was a genuine concern for DDG they would have never based their business in the US.

        • DTFpanda@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          And they could be under a gag order nobody would ever know.

          This sounds a little tinfoil-hat-y but I don’t really know what I’m talking about.

          • Tetsuo@jlai.lu
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            10 months ago

            It was done in the past for larger US based businesses. I don’t see why it couldn’t be done with DDG.

            Also, if your businesses is under a gag order the most logical thing to do is to act like nothing is happening. Because for DDG privacy IS the product. They don’t have better results than Google they are trying to differentiate through privacy (or the appearance of privacy).

        • B0rax@feddit.de
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          10 months ago

          Well there is always the possibility to host it yourself (like on a raspberry pi), like SearxNG.

            • Fuzzypyro@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              Well yeah, paranoid but also people who are sick of providing valuable data(capital) to a business model that thrives on the worst traits of the internet.

  • JasSmith@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    Apparently Google is paying Apple upwards of $20B per year now for search default, so it’s not hard to see why they’re sticking with Google. It does highlight one of many potential anti-trust violations.

    • akilou@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      Just goes to show that for all of Apple’s bullshit marketing, they care more about money than anyone’s privacy. I’m tired of people characterizing Apple like they’re a privacy company.

      • qaz@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        The amount of shits given about privacy is directly linked to the amount of money made from doing so.

      • Dave@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I think Apple still cares more for user privacy than just about any other consumer electronic company out there today. Google’s Play Services mines way more user data than iOS does. However, Apple’s foray into Services will no doubt start them well down the slippery slope of monitoring and monetization, so I think erosion is inevitable to fuel Services revenue.

  • Blapoo@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    Google results have been garbage for a while. I wanted a recipe for chicken. Not someone’s life story with a recipe bookend.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    In iOS 17, Apple recently made it easier to use alternatives to Google search in the Safari web browser’s private browsing mode—but the company considered going even further by making DuckDuckGo, which is marketed as a more private alternative, the default choice in that context.

    As reported by Bloomberg’s Leah Nylen, the information came to light when Amit Mehta, the US District Judge who is handling the US antitrust trial over Google search, unsealed transcripts of testimonies by DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg and Apple SVP of machine learning and AI strategy John Giannandrea.

    Giannandrea worked as Google’s head of search before his current role at Apple.

    These conversations happened in the wider context of the antitrust trial over Google search, which, by some estimates, accounts for 90 percent of the market.

    Judge Mehta is looking closely at Google’s deal with Apple as the trial weighs whether the search giant’s dominance is anti-competitive in the US.

    For DuckDuckGo’s part, a company spokesperson was quoted in Bloomberg saying that the search engine takes measures to prevent “hosting and content providers from creating a history of your searches,” in contrast to Giannandrea’s statement that DuckDuckGo wasn’t as comprehensively private as it claimed.


    The original article contains 373 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 47%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • Jeena@jemmy.jeena.net
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    10 months ago

    DucDuckGo is just a frontend for Bing, why doesn’t Apple create their own search engine?

    • TherouxSonfeir@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Because search is dead. Info is king. The next thing is chat gpt type stuff through siri. Apple doesn’t have to sell you ads when you live in their ecosystem.