According to people familiar with the matter, Apple has been negotiating with DuckDuckGo, hoping to use DuckDuckGo to replace Google as the default search engine in the privacy mode of Apple's Safari browser. Details of those negotiations are expected to be released later this week.
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Apple Online Store (China)
Judge Amit Mehta, who previously oversaw the federal antitrust lawsuit against Google, ruled on Wednesday that he would release testimony from DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg and Apple executive John Giannandrea.
The judge said that when it comes to "collaboration agreements — and I'm talking about testimony about potential deals between Microsoft and Apple, DuckDuckGo and Apple — that will be made public," the judge said, adding that he believed it was "critical to the case."
Apple and Google requested that the testimony be kept confidential. But the judge said he reviewed the records verbatim and will release executives' comments except for trade secrets, such as the names of projects within Apple and the exact financial figures being discussed.
Private browsing mode does not track the websites a user visits, nor does it keep a history of the websites a user has visited.
Apple and Google requested that the testimony be kept confidential. Mehta said he reviewed the records verbatim and will release executives' comments with the exception of trade secrets, such as the names of projects within Apple and the exact financial figures being discussed.
DuckDuckGo declined to comment on the judge's ruling. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.