[Sir_Cmpwn]

You may have missed the point. Sending them to DDG is OK because the user _intended to send them to DDG_. That was the entire purpose of the user's searching experience to begin with. Apple being strung into it is different - the user doesn't need Apple's involvement to complete the search.

[thought_alarm]

DuckDuckGo Search Suggestions and Spotlight Search Suggestions are separate features in Safari. Either can be enabled or disabled by the user in the Safari settings.