Why does Information[]-Function (question mark) prepend additional contexts to $ContextPath?

Question

I evaluated the following in Mathematica 10.2 with a refreshed kernel:

In[1]:= $ContextPath
Out[1]= {CloudObjectLoader`,StreamingLoader`,IconizeLoader`,PacletManager`,System`,Global`}
In[2]:= ?Sin
Out[2]= Sin[z] gives the sine of z.  >>
In[3]:= $ContextPath
Out[3]= {CloudObject`,MailReceiver`,Security`,CloudObjectLoader`,StreamingLoader`,IconizeLoader`,PacletManager`,System`,Global`}

It seems like the evaluation of Information[] (“?” is the short form of Information[]) caused Mathematica to prepend the contexts CloudObject, MailReceiver, and Security to the ContextPath.

Why?
This should not be necessary since Sin[] is a member of the context System which was already included in the ContextPath.

In[4]:= Context[Sin]
Out[4]= System`

I did the same in Mathematica 9.0 and got the following:

In[1]:= $ContextPath
Out[1]= {PacletManager`,QuantityUnits`,WebServices`,System`,Global`}
In[2]:= ?Sin
Out[2]= Sin[z] gives the sine of z.  >>
In[3]:= $ContextPath
Out[3]= {PacletManager`,QuantityUnits`,WebServices`,System`,Global`}

--> The $ContextPath has not been changed by Mathematica 9.0!

Is it possible to suppress this behavior of Mathematica 10.2?

Answer 1

I see the same behaviour, also using v10.2.0 on Win7/64.

As to the "why", the sequence of events is as follows. As a matter of routine, Information generates a random cell tag for the display cell:

This cell tag is generated using CreateUUID. CreateUUID, in turn, is autoloaded as part of a collection symbols all somewhat related to cloud functionality. The autoload expression looks like this:

Package`ActivateLoad[CreateUUID, 
  {CloudObject`Utilities`RemoveAuthenticationInformation,
   CloudObject`Utilities`AuthenticationInformation,
   CloudObject`Utilities`AddAuthenticationInformation,
   CloudObject`Internal`RegisteredUserNameStatus,
   CloudObject`Internal`WolframUUIDStatus,
   CloudObject`Internal`WolframIDStatus,
   CloudObject`Internal`CloudConnectStatus,
   CloudObject`Internal`GetAuthentication,
   CloudObject`Internal`SetAuthentication,
   SetUsers, SetCloudDirectory, ScheduledTaskInformationData,
   ScheduledTaskInformation, ScheduledTasks, ScheduledTask,
   RestartInterval, ResponseForm, RemoveUsers, SharingList,
   CloudShare, CloudPublish, ClearPermissions, SetPermissions,
   PermissionsGroups, PermissionsGroup, Permissions,
   NotificationFunction, ReturnReceiptFunction, MailResponseFunction,
   MailReceiverFunction, LocalizeDefinitions, IncludeGeneratorTasks,
   IconRules, HTTPRequestData, HTTPHandler, GeneratorOutputType,
   GeneratorHistoryLength, GeneratorDescription,
   GeneratedDocumentBinding, ExportForm, ExternalBundle,
   EvaluationData, EpilogFunction, DocumentGenerators,
   DocumentGeneratorInformationData, DocumentGeneratorInformation,
   DocumentGenerator, DeliveryFunction, Delayed, CreateUUID,
   CreatePermissionsGroup, ContinuousTask, CloudSymbol, CloudSubmit,
   CloudSave, CloudPut, CloudObjectInformationData,
   CloudObjectInformation, CloudObjects, CloudObject, CloudLoggingData,
   CloudImport, CloudGet, CloudFunction, CloudExport, CloudEvaluate,
   CloudDisconnect, CloudDirectory, CloudDeploy, CloudConnect,
   CloudAccountData, CloudBase, AutoRemove, AutoRefreshed, AddUsers,
   AbortScheduledTask, $RegisteredUserName, $PermissionsGroupBase,
   $Permissions, $HTTPRequest, $EvaluationEnvironmentParameters,

$CloudSymbolBase, $CloudRootDirectory, $CloudCreditsAvailable, $CloudConnected}, "CloudObjectLoader", {PackageHiddenImport -> False, Path -> Automatic}]

The extra packages are all referenced directly or indirectly by these symbols.

The random cell tag is not strictly necessary for the case of ?Sin. However, if we had typed ?*Sin instead then we would obtain a list of hyperlinked symbols. When we click on one of the symbols, the usage information appears in the cell below. The cell tag is used to locate and remove any such information from a previous click. The code that generates the usage cell always adds a tag, whether there are hyperlinks or not. Using a UUID for this purpose means that the code need not check for explicit uniqueness since the chances are phenomenally slim that there will be a collision.

As to the prospect of suppressing this behaviour, it seems like any measures taken by anyone other than WRI run the risk of interfering with normal system operation.