Comment 17 for bug 405350

"there is no reason to inform the users that they are letting us make money, and that if we wanted we could alter their search result, even though I can swear we are not doing it. The reason for not letting users know is..."

There isn't sufficient evidence to suggest users want or require this information.

When you turn on the tv or read a newspaper or a magazine, are you told every time there is an advertisement that the television channel/newspaper/magazine is making money from them?

Are you aware that every time you search using the search box in firefox you are making mozilla money? Does mozilla make you aware of this?

If we go to the yahoo.com homepage, there is nothing (at all) to advertise the fact that the yahoo search is a custom search engine built on bing.

If you visit any website on the internet, which has advertising on it, are you made aware that there is advertising on it and that by visiting the page you are potentially contributing to them making money, and would that be useful and informative, or annoying?

Argumentum ad populum...

With the ubuntu search on the start page the google logo is used to indicate the search results are from google, this is confirmed by the google.com in the url on the response page, this makes the google logo relevant.

If you remove the google logo and instead replace it with a custom ubuntu search logo you are presented with the trust issue you originally complained about, users would not be aware that by using the ubuntu search their information would be transferred to google and the results would be based on google, THAT would be an issue.

What does the ubuntu start page suggest?

That you are making a search using google, which you are, if the results are modified or artificially changed, then we need to take up with that particular issue, not the fact that they could do that, because if you take up the 'they could' then you would need an information notice on potentially every single application for every single potential issue, all you've done is chosen a particular issue with a particular thing.

Technically clicking on any of the ubuntu links down the bottom of the page 'could' take you to a page with malware on it, yet there is no warning about this, should we take up this issue?

I think you get the point.

What would be the best result?

Ubuntu homepage similar to http://www.google.com.au/firefox/ , with the same - direct from google - results page... but since this isn't going to happen, I'll just place this issue in the back of my mind where it can hopefully disappear.