User trust has been broken. The only way to track usage data in free software, 
anonymous or not,
is by explicitly asking users to opt in, in big letters. Plain and simple.

The extension should be removed immediately and 
https://code.edge.launchpad.net/~asac/firefox/ubuntu.me001
reviewed for privacy breaches.

Finally, if the extension is resubmitted for inclusion, it should be
different from google.xml (the default google search in firefox) So that
users can naturally switch away from it if they prefer to support
mozilla with searches.

http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~asac/firefox/ubuntu.me001/annotate/head%3A/debian/patches/google_code.patch

I would also like to point out that one of the patches 
http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~asac/firefox/ubuntu.me001/annotate/head%3A/debian/patches/ubuntu_codes_amazon.patch
 
indicates that an amazon search is similarly affected. (ie: ubuntu rather than 
mozilla makes money off amazon searches through the search bar, whether data is 
forwarded, only ubuntu and amazon know)

Finally, Alexander should make it clear how exactly the usage data is 
collected. It seems to me that none of the public patches implement a direct 
data transfer. It appears like the version of the search extension and new-tab 
site
are different from those in the publicly visible repository (note the lack of 
chrome/content/tab.html in the patchset).  Maybe that file is autogenerated 
somehow but I doubt it.

-- 
Multisearch addon violates user trust
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/410343
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