Still, for all their pomp about privacy lately, they do show a similar behaviour like many others, i.e., enabling features by default, being a little obscure about those features and making the solution easy to overlook. It doesnt matter to me so much whether Apple is in the business of collecting data or not, but once they do start procuring personal data, they should be frank about it and offer an easy and comprehensible way to opt out.
Of course, the solution is pretty straightforward once you know that Spotlight does this. You just have to uncheck two options in Spotlight preferences. But on the other hand the term Spotlight Suggestions isnt very precise so you need to inform yourself a bit more (which doesnt seem like a very good practice from a privacy standpoint). Where does Apple inform you about it? In a piece of text under Spotlight preferences, hidden under a separate button.
In addition, Spotlight also transmits your location data whenever you search. To disable this, you actually have to look very carefully: it is within the privacy settings (System Preferences), under location services. There you have to scroll down to an item System Services that has a separate but equally obscure button Details
. Only there can you prevent Spotlight from transmitting your location data.
says "F U!!!" It's time to say the same to