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kaszz writes:

A project on github claims that regardless how Apples OS X version 10.10 Yosemite is configured. Apple will collect your search requests when using Safari, tag requests in the file indexer Spotlight, phone home, tags requests in the Help application, collects any email address setup and so on. Leaving a long tail of identifying bread crumbs.

Commenters over at hackernews dispute this interpretation:

This is inaccurate alarmism. It shouldn't be surprising that the search bar makes autocomplete requests to Apple as you type.

However, it seemed suspicious to me that Apple would make it impossible, as the author claims, to type in the Safari address bar without sending queries to Apple. So, I fired up Charles proxy to confirm my suspicions.

I turned off "Include search engine suggestions" and "Include Spotlight Suggestions" in Safari search preferences. (Safari -> Preferences -> Search)

As I initially believed, no requests were sent whatsoever when typing in the address bar after those settings were disabled. Can we put out our pitchforks yet, or am I missing something?

Various other sites are reporting this as Apple collecting data irrespective of how settings are configured. Is this reaction a sign of how much distrust there is over security in the technology industry?