Key logging?

[nifty542]

Hi, all
I read, in a recent review of Ubuntu, that key logging information is passed to some advertisers.
Can anyone tell me if this is true? If so, how can I dsable it in Lubuntu 12.10?
I am an occasional user of Ubuntu (currently using Lubuntu and love it, so far) but am alarmed at this information, if it is true.
Regards
David

[Rex Bouwense]

Don't believe that is true, however in this world who knows. You have to check off that you are willing for ubuntu to gather data about applications that you download and use. It might be difficult for cannonical to slip in a keylogger with so many hackers floating around.

[will1982]

Hi, all
I read, in a recent review of Ubuntu, that key logging information is passed to some advertisers.
Can anyone tell me if this is true? If so, how can I dsable it in Lubuntu 12.10?
I am an occasional user of Ubuntu (currently using Lubuntu and love it, so far) but am alarmed at this information, if it is true.
Regards
David

The info you type in the dash is used for ads by default. Go to settings, privacy (I think). I'm not on my 'buntu PC and can't quite remember

[sffvba[e0rt]

Search results are used to (in theory) bring relevant search results from Amazon (and only Amazon at the moment) when you use the Dash in Ubuntu. AFAIK there isn't anything like this in Lubuntu.


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[nifty542]

Hi
Many thanks for the reply.
I have checked desktop session settings and it seems that keystrokes aren't recorded, according to the information it gives.
Anyway, thank you for replying
Regards
David

[CharlesA]

The info might be sent to Canonical, but it isn't really a "keylogger" because it can be turned off.

The other thread somewhere in the cafe raging about the Amazing lens, but I cannot find it at the moment.

[twipley]

Relevant: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/10/eff-ubuntu-shopping-lens-a-major-privacy-problem

[deadflowr]

At the absolute very worst it could be called a very isolated keylogger, as it is strictly isolated to the dash, and the dash alone.
Nothing you type outside the dash, whether in a terminal, text editor or otherwise, is being sent anywhere.
And disabling it is utterly stupid in its simplicity.
Just open system settings, go to privacy, and turn it off(I'm on Kubuntu now so I don't remember the actual name, but as I recall it should be in the middle of the first tab in privacy).
Personally, though, I only use the dash to open applications with anyway, as I never remember the name of any file, or document I have, and thus I end up digging through nautilus anyway. And Canonical already knows what programs I have, as they gave 'em to me. And even if I did use it to open a file, I don't care.

[3rdalbum]

Yeah, Justin Beiber got cancer, and a nice Christian fellow in Nigeria wants to send all his money to me.

You can't believe everything you read on the internet.

The Ubuntu Shopping lens sends your Dash search queries to the Ubuntu server. The Ubuntu server then sends the query to Amazon, and then sends the search results back to your Dash.

This is not a keylogger. This is a search engine. It's no more a keylogger than Google.com is. If you don't like Amazon, you can simply remove the Shopping lens. If you don't like the thought of any search queries going onto the internet, you can disable network access for the Dash; it's easy.

The reason the search queries go to the Ubuntu server first instead of directly to Amazon is so that Amazon cannot associate your search queries to you.

Unfortunately there's been a lot of ill-informed people out there spreading Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. There's also a small number of people who seem to object to the idea of a Linux company making money from a free product and only now realise that Ubuntu is a commercial distro.

Yes, Ubuntu is a commercial Linux distribution. It's free to use, but it is meant to make money for Canonical. There's never been any secret about this.

I've got an idea: The Nigerian bloke should send all that money to Justin Beiber to pay for the therapy?

[3rdalbum]

At the absolute very worst it could be called a very isolated keylogger, as it is strictly isolated to the dash, and the dash alone.

I understand what you mean, but I'm having a very bad day and I still wouldn't call it ANY sort of keylogger.

If you type into Microsoft Word, it will remember what you type - but that's not a keylogger, because you have to explicitly type into it, and the whole purpose of it is to remember what you type.

If you type into the search field on Google, it will send what you type onto the Internet. That's not a keylogger, because you have to explicitly type into it, and the whole purpose of it is to ask a web server to search for what you've typed.

If you click on any search results in Google, the site you visit will be provided with your search terms. No matter what site it is. Oh, and they'll be given your IP address, which they can use to do a reverse lookup and discover your ISP. You'll also be giving the site owner your operating system, screen resolution, web browser and a handy list of plugins available to your web browser.

By comparison, your search query ONLY goes to Ubuntu and Amazon. Amazon will ONLY know that the computer that generated the search query is running Ubuntu 12.10. Nothing more.

[Paqman]

yeah, justin beiber got cancer, and a nice christian fellow in nigeria wants to send all his money to me.

You can't believe everything you read on the internet.

The ubuntu shopping lens sends your dash search queries to the ubuntu server. The ubuntu server then sends the query to amazon, and then sends the search results back to your dash.

this is not a keylogger. This is a search engine. It's no more a keylogger than google.com is. If you don't like amazon, you can simply remove the shopping lens. If you don't like the thought of any search queries going onto the internet, you can disable network access for the dash; it's easy.

The reason the search queries go to the ubuntu server first instead of directly to amazon is so that amazon cannot associate your search queries to you.

Unfortunately there's been a lot of ill-informed people out there spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt. There's also a small number of people who seem to object to the idea of a linux company making money from a free product and only now realise that ubuntu is a commercial distro.

Yes, ubuntu is a commercial linux distribution. It's free to use, but it is meant to make money for canonical. There's never been any secret about this.

I've got an idea: The nigerian bloke should send all that money to justin beiber to pay for the therapy?

+9000

[tartalo]

This is an interesting reading on the matter, specially for those still using Unity:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/privacy-ubuntu-1210-amazon-ads-and-data-leaks

[kevdog]

This is an interesting reading on the matter, specially for those still using Unity:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/privacy-ubuntu-1210-amazon-ads-and-data-leaks

Thanks for link

[Mikeb85]

Yeah, Justin Beiber got cancer, and a nice Christian fellow in Nigeria wants to send all his money to me.

You can't believe everything you read on the internet.

The Ubuntu Shopping lens sends your Dash search queries to the Ubuntu server. The Ubuntu server then sends the query to Amazon, and then sends the search results back to your Dash.

This is not a keylogger. This is a search engine. It's no more a keylogger than Google.com is. If you don't like Amazon, you can simply remove the Shopping lens. If you don't like the thought of any search queries going onto the internet, you can disable network access for the Dash; it's easy.

The reason the search queries go to the Ubuntu server first instead of directly to Amazon is so that Amazon cannot associate your search queries to you.

Unfortunately there's been a lot of ill-informed people out there spreading Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. There's also a small number of people who seem to object to the idea of a Linux company making money from a free product and only now realise that Ubuntu is a commercial distro.

Yes, Ubuntu is a commercial Linux distribution. It's free to use, but it is meant to make money for Canonical. There's never been any secret about this.

I've got an idea: The Nigerian bloke should send all that money to Justin Beiber to pay for the therapy?

+1

It's no wonder Linux will never become mainstream, it's own users spread more FUD than Microsoft...

[nifty542]

Hi, all
Er, well I didn't realise this would cause such a stir. Anyway, as suggested in this thread, it doesn't seem to apply to Lubuntu.
Thank you for all the replies.
Regards
David

[houseworkshy]

This only logs and forwards searches, it only applies to unity and even in unity "sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping" gets rid of it. The parties that details of your searches, including local searches in your machine, may be sent to are listed on this page. http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/privacypolicy/thirdparties

[aysiu]

I don't know about the semantics debate here, but whether something is a "keylogger" or not doesn't concern me so much as A) Am I aware it's happening, or is it happening stealthily? B) Is there a good reason for this information being collected... something functional and not malicious that could in some way benefit the end user? and C) Is there a way to turn this collection off easily?

As far as I can tell, the answer to A, B, and C is Yes in this situation, so I don't really care if it's a "keylogger" or not.

[koenn]

semantics [...] "keylogger" or not.

I agree with your A-B-C analyses, but the semantics do matter.

a keylogger logs keystroke. Including all sorts of passwords a user types. Most people readily, and correctly, associate 'keylogger' with password stolen, computer "hacked", identity theft, etc.

"Canonical building a system for identity theft into its OS offering" would be quite a different matter than the adding of ads to search results.

[aysiu]

I agree with your A-B-C analyses, but the semantics do matter. They can matter. They matter to you. They matter to a lot of people.

But they don't matter to me.

I care about A, B, and C as mentioned above.

[Gremlinzzz]

Key logging does matter and the user should be made aware, that using Unity comes with a price,your privacy!that's the reason Windows was disliked by so many.

[aysiu]

Key logging does matter and the user should be made aware Sure. The user should be made aware. That sounds good. And the ability to turn it off is also present, so that's good.

[nothingspecial]

The OP is using Lubuntu

[Gremlinzzz]

So unity is the only Ubuntu system with this spyware?
here's another write up

UBUNTU 12.10 SECURITY WARNING (shopping lens spyware)
http://dcdirectactionnews.wordpress.com/computer-security/ubuntu-12-10-security-warning-shopping-lens-spyware/

[sffvba[e0rt]

So unity is the only Ubuntu system with this spyware?
here's another write up

UBUNTU 12.10 SECURITY WARNING (shopping lens spyware)
http://dcdirectactionnews.wordpress.com/computer-security/ubuntu-12-10-security-warning-shopping-lens-spyware/

Calling it spyware is inaccurate and akin to spreading FUD.

The shopping lens in question in all the articles is indeed part of Unity that comes with Ubuntu 12.10. I am not aware of any other DE using Zeitgeist or something similar.


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