Does Ubuntu 12.04 come with Spyware?

[MadmanRB]

There is no spyware, period.
All the spyware talk is just false alarms being sent out by Richard Stallman who thinks that you should be locked up in jail or something if ytou charge more then 0 cents for software.

[Psil0cybin]

Alright guys thanks for helping me get this sorted out I really appreciate it.
With much research, I have found that anything that you want to remove is easily removable.
Thanks for the advice, I really really appreciate it.

[tartalo]

All the spyware talk is just false alarms being sent out by Richard Stallman who thinks that you should be locked up in jail or something if ytou charge more then 0 cents for software.

That is incorrect, Richard Stallman has often explained that he is in no way against charging for software. He is for freedom as defined in the famous 4 freedoms and the GPL license, not for gratis.

And call it what you want, but Ubuntu 12.10 and later sends your private searches to third parties.

[Psil0cybin]

That is incorrect, Richard Stallman has often explained that he is in no way against charging for software. He is for freedom as defined in the famous 4 freedoms and the GPL license, not for gratis.

And call it what you want, but Ubuntu 12.10 and later sends your private searches to third parties.

Well that is what I am honestly worried about, but I removed those packages in 12.04, and hopefully I can feel a little more at ease.
But 12.10 and on sounds like a bad idea for what I want out of my machine.
I'm going to stick with 12.04
or move to Xubuntu.

[craig10x]

Why? In 12.10 and 13.04 you can turn it off completely in 5 seconds...too much effort, eh?

And again...not spyware anyway...it's just a small way for ubuntu to get some money back which they certainly deserve considering all the money that is put into by Mark Shuttleworth...
All it does is send some information to amazon so they can add some "targeted" amazon shopping suggestions for items you might be interested in...in return, ubuntu gets some revenue back...

And if you desire not to participate, you hit 2 off buttons in "privacy settings" and it is totally gone...

I think you are really making too big a deal of this...this isn't like the famous novel "1984" big brother is NOT watching you

[matt_symes]

Does Ubuntu 12.04 come with Spyware?

The answer is NO.

The short and sweet answer is this ^^^^. Anything else is FUD.

[3rdalbum]

That is incorrect, Richard Stallman has often explained that he is in no way against charging for software. He is for freedom as defined in the famous 4 freedoms and the GPL license, not for gratis.

And call it what you want, but Ubuntu 12.10 and later sends your private searches to third parties.

No, it doesn't. It sends your search queries to third parties IF you search Dash Home, Music or Videos, or any other lens/scope with an online component AND online searches are turned on.

Ubuntu 12.04 and below do the same, except not with Dash Home and there's no way of turning off "online searches".

They are not "private searches" if you keep online searching enabled; for the same reason as this message not being a "private message". If I wanted this message to be private, I would have used a private means of communication. If you want your search to be private, then turn off online searches or use a lens with no online component.

[KingSombra]

"Anything else is FUD."

I'm sorry. I have been a long time reader of these forums and until recently a fan of Ubuntu, but when I read this I had to create an account.

I can understand that you think its trivial.

But as a moderator I would expect you not to post a trivialization of what others think is a legitimate concern.

(Me for one, and obviously RMS.)

And GROKLAW agrees as well:

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?s...30324114340352

Canonical says "Oh we give users clear notice and they can turn the shopping lens off."

To me that sounds a lot like Microsoft saying "Oh we give notice in our clickwrap EULA."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EULA

( I escpecially liked the "imortal soal" bit in Criticism. )

The GPL is an entire different matter. I have read through it and I know that every time I see it I can accept it without fear of there being something nasty within its pages. That is serious empowerment.

But now along comes Canonical and the "shopping lens". Yes the notice of it, might not be in the GPL notice itself, but it still destroys that confidence for people who take their privacy seriously, and it feels like a betrayal.

Yes I know we can turn it off. Once again we should not have to do so. We should turn it on if we want (OPT-IN).

You may feel that RMS categorizing the shopping lens as spy-ware is unfair, but by some definitions it is exactly that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware

The shopping lens can fit very nicely in the first paragraph in that WIKI, if you take the above argument about "notice" to heart. So yes the shopping lens CAN be considered to be spy-ware.

I can hear the next line already. "But Canonical encrypts the query."

But they still have to hand out the IP address so that Amazon can serve up the icons. It is trivial for Amazon to get other data about you if they have this. (You even note in the code of conduct that you use IP addresses, which is laudable. But yes IP addresses can be abused as well.)

No, I reject this concern as being trivial and FUD. There are principled people who believe it is legitimate.

And as a forum moderator, even though the concern goes against the very OS that the forums are about, I think you should'nt trivialize it.

Its even right in the forum code of conduct that you should at least be respectful of others views.

And lastly if you tell me that I can always use another distro, that would be a shame since I have been a fan of Ubuntu, but at least I could agree with that.

I am sorry if this rubs some people in these forums the wrong way. But it is how I feel about this.

[matt_symes]

Me for one, and obviously RMS.

Argument from authority eh ?

There are many things RMS says that i think are wrong.

I'm just a Ubuntu user like you, but because of that i'm not allowed to disagree ?

As i stated before, "anything else is FUD!"

But don't take my word for it, you have the source code and tools; go check yourself.

[haqking]

Argument from authority eh ?

There are many things RMS says that i think are wrong.

I'm just a Ubuntu user like you, but because of that i'm not allowed to disagree ?

As i stated before, "anything else is FUD!"

But don't take my word for it, you have the source code and tools; go check yourself.

+1

Your Japanese Proverb fits well

And for the record saying "anything else is FUD" is not trivialising others concerns it is an opinion, neither is it disrespectful of others views or opinions and wasnt targeted at an individual post.


Peace