Richard Stallman, the President of Free software Foundation, is saying the "Ubuntu Linux is Spyware" because the operating systems sends data to Canonical’s servers.

"Ubuntu, a widely used and influential GNU/Linux distribution, has installed surveillance code. When the user searches her own local files for a string using the Ubuntu desktop, Ubuntu sends that string to one of Canonical’s servers. (Canonical is the company that develops Ubuntu.)" Stallman said in the blog post.

According to his blog post, Ubuntu send the keyword searched in the Dash (the hub for finding stuff in the Unity desktop interface) to the Amazon.  Based one the keyword, it will show ads to buy various things from Amazon. If a user buys something from Amazon as a result, money is sent to Canonical in the form of affiliate payments.

"The main issue is the spying. Canonical says it does not tell Amazon who searched for what. However, it is just as bad for Canonical to collect your personal information as it would have been for Amazon to collect it."

Stallman concluded with a plea that people who recommend or redistribute free operating systems "remove Ubuntu from the distros you recommend or redistribute."

Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth claims that they are not putting ads in Ubuntu. The feature is to integrate online scope results into the home lens of the dash.

"This is to enable you to hit 'Super' and then ask for anything you like, and over time, with all of the fantastic search scopes that people are creating, we should be able to give you the right answer."Mark Shuttleworth said.