Tim Cook: Why Apple accepts billions annually from Google to be Safari’s default search engine despite privacy concerns

“Apple CEO Tim Cook didn’t name names when he spoke out against the privacy practices of big tech companies during a keynote speech in Brussels last month. But he didn’t have to,” Steve Kovach reports for CNBC. “‘We shouldn’t sugarcoat the consequences. This is surveillance. And these stockpiles of personal data serve only to enrich the companies that collect them,’ Cook said in the October 24 speech. ‘This should make us very uncomfortable. It should unsettle us.'”
“Those comments were primarily directed at Facebook and Google, the two biggest tech companies that make most of their money from advertising based on user data,” Kovach reports. “But that hasn’t stopped Apple from working with the companies it disagrees with. Facebook and Google’s apps are available in Apple’s App Store, for example, and Apple accepts billions of dollars a year from Google so Google can be the default search engine in the Safari web browser.”
“In an interview with Axios on HBO Sunday night, Axios technology correspondent Ina Fried asked Cook why,” Kovach reports. “‘I think their search engine is the best,’ Cook said, adding that Apple has added controls to the Safari browser to keep companies like Google from tracking your browsing history to collect data about you. ‘Look at what we’ve done with the controls we’ve built in,’ Cook said. ‘We have private web browsing. We have an intelligent tracker prevention. What we’ve tried to do is come up with ways to help our users through their course of the day. It’s not a perfect thing. I’d be the very first person to say that. But it goes a long way to helping.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Google is not the best search engine for everything. Other search engines have their strong points (use Bing for images and DuckDuckGo for real privacy, for two examples).
As Apple did with Maps, Cook should have done with Search (except smartly tagged “beta” at launch, of course). It’s not too late to begin rectifying that mistake.
Regardless, 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 and tap on Safari.
3. Tap on Search Engine.
4. Select DuckDuckGo.
SEE ALSO:
DuckDuckGo: What it’s like to use a search engine that values your privacy – November 5, 2018
Why I switched from Google to DuckDuckGo – July 4, 2015
Why Apple should buy DuckDuckGo – June 19, 2015
DuckDuckGo has grown 600% since Apple made it a search option – and Snowden’s revelations – June 17, 2015
Apple’s default search engine: Is DuckDuckGo next in line? – March 4, 2015
Microsoft, Yahoo vie to become Apple Safari’s default search option – November 26, 2014
Apple adds DuckDuckGo option to iOS 8 Safari, ‘a search engine that doesn’t track users’ – September 18, 2014
Apple slams Google in Safari 7.1 release notes: ‘Adds DuckDuckGo, a search engine that doesn’t track users’ – September 18, 2014
It’s time for Apple to buy DuckDuckGo – May 30, 2014