Ubuntu Spyware?

[vasa1]

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All features introduced by Canonical (and the community) should, ideally, be opt-out by default.

You mean opt-in? So if someone wants a feature, they opt for it or opt-in.

[snowpine]

It is an advertised feature of the product.

[MyTinFoilHat]

We do not silence anyone unless they break the forums Code of Conduct, the second line being this



While we allow discussion, threads and posts which cause unnecessary drama are not allowed. This is not the place to complain. Address your concerns to Canonical. I believe they provide an address in the legal notice located in the dash.

And while you do that, the forum staff will continue to keep ubuntuforums.org a nice friendly place where anyone can come and get help with ubuntu or have a good natured chat.

First and foremost, thank you for your timely response. I (and I'm sure others) appreciate the feedback. While I have read the Code of Conduct, I also realize that, as human beings, we sometimes become a bit... defensive when we perceive an attack. I simply want to insure that this dialogue centered around Richard Stallman's comments were not merely buried in the shuffle. I noticed that earlier comments from Forum Staff had centered around negating the validity of the original posts, whether or not the thread should be closed.

Regardless of my potential misperceptions (I apologize if I have offended any of the thread monitors), I very much feel that Stallman's comments address an entire community, not merely Canonical - as I pointed out in my original response. It's an important dialogue for the entire community to have and, as such, deserves to be seen, addressed, and discussed openly.

It is my hope that you (and others) understand that my participation in this dialogue isn't about complaint, this is about a community - the same one that participates in Canonical's success - addressing comments of an individual that spearheaded a movement that we all happen to be free to enjoy.

Again, thank you for your reply and thank you for keeping this dialogue open for all to enjoy and participate.

[MyTinFoilHat]

You mean opt-in? So if someone wants a feature, they opt for it or opt-in.

Opt-In/Opt-Out - the terms seem to be a bit fluid and based on half-full or half-empty perspectives. Perhaps the problem lies in my own interpretation (or misinterpretation) of the term. However, my point is this:

The user (by default) shouldn't have to do anything in order to NOT participate.

If a user wants to use the Amazon lens, the shopping lens, etc - that user should have to be the one to engage that option that enables that feature.

So... in short, whatever term addresses that idea, that's the one I mean. LOL

[Paqman]

The user (by default) shouldn't have to do anything in order to NOT participate.

If a user wants to use the Amazon lens, the shopping lens, etc - that user should have to be the one to engage that option that enables that feature.

Part of what Ubuntu sets out to achieve is ease of use through sensible defaults. It doesn't set out to be the most conservative distro, there are others available which fulfill that role. Including features but not enabling them by default would be a very conservative choice, and is normally only seen in Ubuntu for features which are not yet fully stable (such as the BTRFS file system).

So no, Ubuntu's defaults aren't able to satisfy all of the people all of the time, but it does generally allow you to switch off or remove any new features you don't like. Such is the case with the shopping lens.

[monkeybrain2012]

I think RMS's choice of words may be a bit inflammatory, but he has a valid point. While I personally use google, chrome, facebook etc so I have a different working definition than RMS for abusing of privacy, I understand that many in the Linux community (or even the Ubuntu community) have a view closer to RMS' than mine and their concerns need to be addressed. A simple warning during installation or at first boot with a checkbox to opt in/opt out (depending on how the default is set) would go a long way to address community anxiety and restoring good will, why not do it? To say that you can disable it is not good enough, many new users may not know where to or how to, and they may not even know such a feature exists and can be disabled. Not everyone visits the forum everyday.

P.S. I don't really care for shopping so I will disable this feature, and in the future when I install Ubuntu for others I will ask them if they want to disable or enable it.

[LillyDragon]

To be honest, I don't think Amazon would be getting intelligent information half the time anyway, with people half-typing in the name of their apps and documents while searching in the dash. I see incomplete or badly spelt suggestions on Google pretty frequently, so I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens here too. Maybe not to the same extent, but I can see it happening.

[monkeybrain2012]

To be honest, I don't think Amazon would be getting intelligent information half the time anyway, with people half-typing in the name of their apps and documents while searching in the dash. I see incomplete or badly spelt suggestions on Google pretty frequently, so I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens here too. Maybe not to the same extent, but I can see it happening.

Amazon is only the beginning, Canonical is expecting more retailers to participate as far as I know (I can be wrong on that and stand corrected). Well I for one don't want my dash to become a billboard for advertising when I do a local search, I think many would share this view as well. To me it is more of an annoyance than a privacy concern.

[mythic97]

So Amazon is spyware?

[Primefalcon]

So Amazon is spyware?

for one to be spyware it needs to be secret.... this is actually advertised...

I honestly think that 98% wont have a problem with this... for the 2% just turn it off.... by going to system settings and privacy... easy

Personally I am using it.....