[Nottingham] Ubuntu + Amazon

[Paul Sladen]

On Tue, 11 Dec 2012, Martin wrote:
> I see it far worse than that...
> It is a deliberately installed

Concur, the 'unity-shopping-lens' is deliberately installed.

> Trojan that

  bzr branch lp:unity-lens-shopping

and please tell me where the [alleged] Trojan is.

> reports your activities

The 'unity-shopping-lens' submits search queries to...

> to unknown

...to a known endpoint...

> 3rd parties.

...at ('unity-shopping-lens/src/scope.vala':26), which is:

   https://productsearch.ubuntu.com

and clicking on this link gives an API description and example.

> If you /are/ a shopping junkie,

Sometimes I'm an Ebay junkie;  perhaps somebody will make an Ebay 
lense that is optimised for sniping without needing to fire out a
web-browser.

> then it /might/ be in some way helpful.

Ubuntu installs a couple of gigabytes of Free Software on the basis
that it 'might be useful'. Not all features of all programs will be
useful for /everyone/ /all the time/;  hopefully the initial set and
default working configurations, plus what is accessible via the
Software Centre, are a good match for potential Free Software users
might like, and what fits on a CD-ROM.

> However, bleeding out details of your every keyboard and mouse action
> is oh so wide open to abuse, or just simple embarrassment,

Yes, like the semi-canned Communications Data Bill today, bleeding out
every mouse action would be undesirable.

	-Paul