This is causing quite a bit of upset as you can see from this blog
The latest Ubuntu 12.10 beta includes a new feature in the Unity Dash that incorporates Amazon searches. This might sound a little odd, but it was meant to be innocuous, even helpful to the user, while generating referral cash for Ubuntu. Essentially, when performing searches through the Dash, this new widget adds "More Suggestions" to the search results, using information gleaned by searching Amazon.com's vast online shopping catalog.
When you use this new feature of the Dash, your query terms are sent to a server run by Canonical that then proxies the search to Amazon, which returns the results. However, none of those communications are encrypted; they're just plainly visible queries
Perhaps if Canonicle had been more upfront about this in the first place people wouldn't be complaining about it now.
Just them earning some money, then again allot of software developers are "in bed with Google" so to speak. But if it helps keep it free and developed that's one thing, however being up front about it and/or having an opt-out option would be beneficial when developers decide to go the ad-supported route so as to not lose users.
I heard users can just drag Amazon to the trash & it will get rid of it. Not sure. Haven't tried it yet.
No it has to be done via cmd line.
However Canonicle have released a sort of kill switch feature built into the privacy settings manager but this means you lose all built in online search functionality.
I think it was the thought that things like the instance below would happen is what the objections were about.
For instance, someone might search for a file with a Social Security number or with a specific text string that is in no way intended to be read by anyone else. They're ostensibly searching through their own local file system, after all, and the thought that by default that search string will be sent out to not one, but two, third parties is extremely disturbing
Probably not the best idea to keep your ssn in plaintext on your computer anyway. I don't even like the idea of having it in any form on the computer, so I just keep it in my head.
Linux users need to let stuff like this go a little more.
Software development costs money and if they want linux to keep getting better then they need to support it somehow.
On a side note, what the hell happened to ubuntu? That unity interface is terrible.
I actually have linux mint cinnamon installed on my laptop right now. Its a great operating system and the linux mint guys are pushing linux in a good direction. I'll probably still move onto windows 8 but if I cant get over the interface then at least I feel like there is something to turn to that has a more classic style. I'm super excited about windows 8 tablets I will most likely be getting the Surface RT when they launch at the end of this month, I'm just not convinced about the desktop windows 8...
I guess I'm just used to this kind of thing. Both my phone and my tablet already do this.
On android when I search for something it searches my tablet and also pulls in search data from google. On iOS its doing the same thing if I search for something not on my phone. Ubuntu is searching amazon instead of google. Amazon technically isn't a search engine but google is making money the same way.