unity-design team mailing list archive

[James Jenner <james.g.jenner@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 12 October 2011 00:44, Ian Santopietro <isantop@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> The thing is this isn't really a privacy issue. Sure, when you open
> the music lens and search for a song, it looks for the song online.
> But this isn't tied to the main "Dash" search (Home icon, or the one
> that opens by default). So it won't send out information at any time,
> only when you search on the music lens. And when you search on the
> music lens, you're looking for a song name, which aren't really
> confidential.
>
>
I also don't see a problem with the internet being hit with this search,
purely from a privacy point of view. I do however agree that the user should
be in control with all information sent over the internet. That's not a
privacy concern, that's a 'empowering the user' concern. This disempowers
the user.


> On top of all of this, the data sent isn't any different from running
> a search on Google or Amazon. It doesn't send any information about
> *You*, only the query. It's still sending information, but it isn't
> sensitive, and none of it can be linked to you specifically.
>
>
Not really apples to apples comparison. Doing a search on a Web browser
obviously means to the user that the internet is being used. The user will
understand that information is being sent over the internet. I would suspect
that doing a search on a Operating System level interface would make the
user presume that it wouldn't hit the internet.

Overall I have an issue with this, why should the internet be searched when
searching a local system for music? If you extend this then that means every
single lens should be changed to be consistent, i.e. search the internet for
the local counterpart if that information could be online and purchasable.
Do a search for a document, well let's search Google Scholar or Amazon, etc.
Searching for a program, well lets search for commercial software of the
same name that the user could purchase. Searching for a video, lets search
search a shop where you can buy it online.

This to me appears to be move to prompt users that they could purchase
something when they do a search, I don't believe it is an attempt to solve a
genuine need of users.

A lens for local searching is IMHO the wrong place to try and integrate
searches for commercial reasons when the lens is not clearly marked as being
for commercial purposes and not marked clearly that it will search the
internet.

Btw, saying "uninstall the music store" is not a solution for the casual
user and at best is just a workaround. It's not something that is obvious to
the user to disable the 'feature'.