[theshadow]

It's a shame that the ridiculous amount of hyperbole involved in anything that Stallman seems to say these days is probably reducing his stature among the tech community and the history books. IMO his opinions would be more constructive if he tones it down every now and then.

[shill]

'Spyware' is an appropriate label for software that remotely logs your local searches. What is there to tone down?

[rlpb]

It's not a local search. If you want a local search, do a local search. If you type a search into a global search box that is supposed to search the Internet, expect it to search the Internet!

[comex]

It doesn't search the Internet. If it searched local files and Google (and maybe Amazon) it would make some sense, but (by default at least) it only searches local files and physical Amazon products, an absolutely bizarre grouping.

[cwkoss]

Stallman is talking about a search of a local filesystem.

[spindritf]

Search of local file systems (<super>f) does not include results from Amazon. This is FUD.

[lhnn]

People are not used to a search area that looks up local AND internet resources. Furthermore, AFAIK, thre is no obvious "local only" search box to act as an alternative to this global one.

It's a combination of user expectations of a local search resource and the lack of obvious warnings about this new, and odd, feature.

[rlpb]

> People are not used to a search area that looks up local AND internet resources.

This is the crux of the matter. I would argue that they are used to this. Ordinary users aren't aware where they are conducting a search at all. They just expect the computer to figure out and do what they mean. The distinction between the Internet and local storage is already being lost on them (examples: Dropbox, Google Drive). The fact that so many users put URLs in a Google search box is a perfect example of this phenomenon.

The set of users who do understand the difference are capable of directing their computer more specifically. The default does not matter for them.

Ubuntu is supposed to be usable by everyone. This is (I assume) why the default is the way round that it is.

> the lack of obvious warnings

Have you looked? There is a warning on the same screen as the box, complete with a link to a privacy policy. Or are you saying that this isn't enough?

[flatline]

It has been this way as long as I've been cognizant of his views; he has always been something of a radical. It just used to be that there was one predominant party at which to take aim (Microsoft). Now there are dozens of targets that have sprung up, which legitimately deserve some of the criticisms he levels against them: the walled gardens of cell phone ecosystems, rampant DRM, and opaque social media sites for which your data is their primary source of revenue. As more of our lives continually revolve around digital media, there are more opportunities for abuse. Stallman has been rigidly consistent in his basic message over the years, and he has never been particularly constructive.

[trotsky]

he has never been particularly constructive

yeah. i mean except for the part where his actions directly lead to one of the most significant changes in technology in a generation.

[flatline]

Yes, I should have said, not constructive in his criticisms, but you are right, he has done a ton of stuff outside of his public speaking that has been huge and actually belies my statement to a large extent.

[Kim_Bruning]

What makes you say he has been non-constructive? I can think of GNU, Emacs, The GPL, FSF etc. off the top of my head.

[duaneb]

I've found that RMS sounds eerily sane these days.

[oelmekki]

That's because his most paranoiac predictions are becoming true :)

[jmpeax]

That's an argument to moderation. Something he's explicitly stated should not be done (pertaining to software patents, sorry, can't find the reference). Although extremely hyperbolic, you can imagine a choice between killing 10 innocent people or 0. The middle ground is to only kill 5, but it doesn't make it correct.

[scarmig]

Stallman hyperbolic nowadays? I hate to be snarky, but... when hasn't he been hyperbolic? He's never been known for moderation and his skills at alliance building across the political spectrum.

Of course, that's not to say he isn't right. Far from it.

[k-mcgrady]

I usually find RMS' posts very over-the-top but I thought he was spot on with this one.