How do I disable Online Videos in the Unity Dash?

Solution 1:

I have found a solution recently, though not very glorious enough, but it works.

Disable the file responsible for accessing Internet:

First Open a terminal, go to "/usr/lib/unity-scope-video-remote" by the below command:
```
  cd /usr/lib/unity-scope-video-remote
```
Disable the "unity-scope-video-remote" file there by this command below:
```
  sudo mv unity-scope-video-remote unity-scope-video-remote.bak
```
Logout and Login again, to see that the video lens is unable to access the Internet.

If you want to re-enable the feature:

Just do the opposite of the above process, Go to "/usr/lib/unity-scope-video-remote" by the command:
```
  cd /usr/lib/unity-scope-video-remote
```

Re-enable the file by following command:

  sudo mv unity-scope-video-remote.bak unity-scope-video-remote

Logout and Login again, to see the effect

13.04 (64-bit)

In 13.04 the file is in a different directory. Using bash's brace expansion, the command is:
```
  sudo mv /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/unity-lens-video/unity-scope-video-remote{,.bak}
```

Re-enable the file by following command:

  sudo mv /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/unity-lens-video/unity-scope-video-remote{.bak,}

As an alternative to logging in and out just press Alt+F2 and type unity --replace

Will it disable the local video searching?

No, In this procedure, the local videos will always be visible. So, no worry !

Solution 2:

How to deactivate the Online Videos scope

This is as simple as removing the unity-scope-video-remote package, whose only function is to provide online video "recommendations" (see below) and searches. Open the terminal with Ctrl-Alt-T, and type:

sudo apt-get --purge remove unity-scope-video-remote

Then logout once and log back in; online videos should be gone.

Right now, Online Videos/Recommendations has NO relation to you

Looking at the source code for this package shows that it eventually intends to use the Zeitgeist service database to come up with "recommendations"; Zeitgeist logs events, history, etc. and also enables the search-as-you-type in the dash feature. Here's a more detailed article.
But as of Ubuntu 12.04, this isn't functional and the "recommendations" have no relation to you, your activities or your habits; they are simply sent from the Ubuntu video search server, either alphabetically or randomly:
```
def update_recommendations(self):
    """Query the server for 'recommendations'.

    In v0, that means simply do an empty search.
```