dx-packages team mailing list archive
-
dx-packages team
-
Mailing list archive
-
Message #19876
[Bug 739469] Re: Dash search unavoidably returns offensive results
** Changed in: unity (Ubuntu)
Status: New => Fix Released
--
You received this bug notification because you are a member of DX
Packages, which is subscribed to unity in Ubuntu.
Matching subscriptions: dx-packages, dx-packages
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/739469
Title:
Dash search unavoidably returns offensive results
Status in Unity:
Fix Released
Status in Unity Foundations:
Fix Released
Status in Unity Applications Lens:
Confirmed
Status in “unity” package in Ubuntu:
Fix Released
Status in “unity-place-applications” package in Ubuntu:
Fix Released
Bug description:
unity 3.6.6-0ubuntu1, Ubuntu Natty
unity 3.6.8-0ubuntu3, Ubuntu Natty
unity-2d 5.8.0-0ubuntu1, Ubuntu Pangolin
Example 1:
0. Be a 14-year-old girl, or a schoolteacher preparing to show a film to your class, or a businessperson preparing to give a presentation.
1. Click the Applications button.
2. Type "movie" to launch Movie Player.
What happens: Seven applications appear, one of which is called "PornView".
Example 2:
0. Be a Dell representative or customer.
1. Click the Applications button.
2. Type "Dell" to find the Dell Recovery tool.
What happens: Five applications appear, including "Dopewars", a drug-dealing game.
(More examples in
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/883800/comments/15>.)
This problem cannot reasonably be solved merely by renaming or
blacklisting one or two particular applications. These are just two
examples, and if the Dash shows any applications that aren't
installed, there is no bright line between those that should appear
for everyone and those that should appear for no-one.
We can't realistically expect the entire Ubuntu software library to be
offense-free: as more independent applications are published, some
(especially games) will be targeted at mature audiences and/or be non-
worksafe, and that's fine. (We can introduce a maturity rating system
inside Ubuntu Software Center for those.) But people should be able to
expect that the launcher in Ubuntu's shell, of all things, *will* be
offense-free.
Possible solutions:
* Simplest would be to restrict application search results only to
those applications that are actually installed. As Mark Shuttleworth
said in <https://lists.launchpad.net/unity-design/msg08030.html>: "To
launch what you know you have installed, use the Dash. To explore what
may be installed, or may be available, use the Software Centre. Now,
neither piece may yet be ideal, but we should improve the design of
those pieces for their specific purposes, not try to make everything
do everything."
* Introduce a maturity ratings system
<https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/foundations-software-
maturity-ratings>, apply it to every package in the Ubuntu archive
that needs it, then set a reasonable default for Dash searches
(analogous to Google's "SafeSearch Moderate"). This might involve
adding a setting for how much filtering the Dash should do.
* Ad-hoc and unconfigurable blacklisting (as proposed in duplicate bug
883800). This might result in ongoing disagreements about whether
particular applications should be blacklisted.
To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/739469/+subscriptions