Mac OS X Yosemite Sends Location, Search Data to Apple

Two steps toward privacy, one step back.

While privacy advocates lauded Apple for the company’s decision to default to encrypting data on its latest mobile operating system, iOS 8, the technology firm faced criticism on Monday after independent researchers discovered that its latest operating system, Mac OS X Yosemite, is configured to send location and search data whenever a user queries Spotlight.

Spotlight is the company’s search feature for Mac OS X. The capability doesn’t just search a user’s computer, though; it also sends information to Apple and Microsoft to return searches from the companies’ services, according to Fix-MacOSX.com.

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