Is the Unity Shopping Lens really Spyware?

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Published on December 20, 2012 5:56:42 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKN3q64VGt8

Duration: 7:56

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I discuss whether the Unity Shopping Lens that returns Amazon and 7 Digital shopping results is really Spyware or just an annoyance.

Richard Stallman has voiced his opinion about it and calls Ubuntu "Spyware"

In this Video I show what is actually going on by using Wireshark, although as the outbound searches are Encrypted I can't give you a conclusive answer. But interestingly the results back from Amazon are Unencrypted.

I don't believe Canonical collect sufficient information about a users personal details for the feature to be classed as Spyware.
However I do agree that it is an annoyance and could be better implemented.

As always its a personal choice whether you like the feature or not, but if you don't like it you can easily disable the online searches through Privacy Tool.

Wallpaper: http://imgur.com/p2jI3