Thursday, 1 November 2012

How to turn off the Amazon search in the dash

The latest distribution of Ubuntu (12.10, Quantal Quetzal) has an improved search function, which by default includes searching Amazon. This can be very handy if you like Amazon, but it also raises concerns for privacy. The issue is hot topic in the Ubuntu community, with some saying, that it's a good source of revenue for the Canonical, the Ubuntu developers, but other's being concerned about the commercialisation of a open source operating system.
I think having Amazon included is a interesting option, but I do think, that it should not be default, but rather optional, maybe it could be included in the installation menu, when you set keyboard option, time zone, etc.
Also, Ubuntu is a international project, people from all over the world use this distribution, but Amazon is available only in selected countries.
To turn off the Amazon search, click on the Dash Home and search for privacy. Then turn the switch "Include online search results" to off.

This will turn off all online searches in the Dash.

No comments:

Post a Comment