Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

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MikeMat

Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by MikeMat »

danagos wrote:I will just ignore the "ooh conspiracy theory" stupid opinions above, and tell you just A COUPLE OF THINGS:

1) google for "PRISM SCANDAL"
2) Google for "NSA MICROSOFT SPY"
3) Google for "CIA BSD BACKDOOR"

Ok, so now people discover that USA keeps logging ALL info, talks, chats, friends, phone calls (google NSA SPYING AMERICANS CONGRESS 2005 AT&T)

Well, not even MY government can spy on me, but USA can? The guy said that he can even spy presidents and companies, and, in most cases, THEY DO, even to steal privileged info, like patent projects to steal them for usa companies and register ahead.

USA government pays like 200k dollars to 1 million for any exploits, and you think that the stupid african that made ubuntu is above of it?
They pay even to hardware companies to make hardware exploits, they infected the most audited system in the world, bsd, when they don infect the code they infect the binaries...

There are so many ways to do it...
Do you know that microsoft is one of the biggest contributors on writing linux codes?
You think they are concerned just with virtualization? pfffff

Until someone rapes stupid north americans and the world declares WAR on them, they will insist on commiting crimes and violating other peoples rights.
Go and use the most secure system on the world, unless you have an old ISA NIC, they will have access to bypass it. By hardware or software, by tapping, by trojans, every way they will log you.

Now that the prism guy SHUTTED UP stupid people crying "oooh conspiracy theoryyyyy" i am amazed to see they are still here writing "i am glad google and the government logs all my chats".
NOW THAT THAT EX NSA INTELLIGENCE AGENT TOLD THAT WHEN THEY WANTTO SCREW SOMEONE THEY RESEARCH LOGS OF HIS FRIENDS AND CHATS OVER 15 YEARS, WOULD YOU NOW STOP BEING STUPID, PEOPLE?


Hahaha.

+1

except,
1) google for "PRISM SCANDAL"
2) Google for "NSA MICROSOFT SPY"
3) Google for "CIA BSD BACKDOOR"


don't use Google. Use duckduckgo.com :D
RonnyS

Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by RonnyS »

asaguiar wrote:The initial question has *not* been answered so far. Is there any body out there in the Mint Team with this minimum bit of information about a real problem that has already been known for a while now?

Does Mint *remove* de ubuntu spyware trash code? A simple direct question to be answered with *one* word (in a universe of only only *two* possible words)!

Besides, it would be nice to have a list os servers names and IPs the ubuntu spies use so we all can include in our ban lists of browsers, proxies, squidguard, etc. Such a list should be easy to get by now! Unfortunately I do not know how to hack such things.

And what are you people doing about that? Watching? Reading speaches and news? Do your part, the most important: REMOVE/STOP/QUIT YOUR SUPPORT!!! Simple protests in blogs certainly contribute to turn the name ubuntu (and everything ubuntu related) into a curse. But there is a lot more that can be done.

Suspending all donations immediately (my humble small amount is already suspended) to all Linux projects is surely going to be so effective. Suspend donations not only to ubuntu and mint but also to every software project that ubuntu distributes until the project owner assures us that our prefered software will *not* feed ubuntu greed! Not even ubuntu has the resources to fork everything and will shrink inevitably.

We are many, Amazon-ubuntu is one. Stop buying stuff from Amazon!!!! Have already done a year ago that because of Amazon's feeble handling of the deffective stuff they deploy. It's is easy to live without Amazon! There are alternatives. A bit more expensive? As Nietzsche taught us, "no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself."

Suspend donations immediately!!!! Buy nothing from Amazon!!!

It is that simple! The fact is that all of these guys live from our support and yet they chose to abuse us!!! Quit this support and asphyxiate these abusive guys.

My 2 cents.

Aguiar
I AGREE!! I Have discontinued any further shopping on Amazon and I am currently using Mint KDE, though I will be switching to an RPM based distro this weekend. Korora
If we the people do not take a stand... this is in fact stating that we accept and a agree with what the evil companies are pulling on us all.
RonnyS

Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by RonnyS »

bimsebasse wrote:Let's not forget the Mintified google search pages in Firefox/Chrome/ium which generate income for Mint and which you can't disable through a GUI.

Canonical makes some questionable decisions but adding Amazon shopping support to the dash, and an option to disable it easily, is not one of them - it's not evil either :D

It's a bit shocking to experience how somewhat hysterical, unbalanced and unfounded opinions can ignite half the online Linux community, huge swarms just going with it without stopping to think. Hopefully Mint doesn't find itself at the wrong end of a Wave of Overreaction any time soon!

Install StartPage.com to your browser. Under the search bar is a link to install. If you use Firefox, it is very simple.
It will change the right side search field AND the address bar.

Start Page utilizes google's search... though they put a wall between you and google to protect your data/searches.
Go to www.StartPage.com and read about the company. It's brief and to the point. I've been using it for the last 6 years!
FreedomOfTheOpenCode

Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by FreedomOfTheOpenCode »

I'm cool about it if they say up front what they're doing and make it opt-in. It's finding out later from a third party that I'm being watched that bugs me. When it happens too often I start to feel a bit paranoid and quit using the service/app/hardware. I try to accept that some people want what to others is spying.

If you don't like the electronic equivalent of salesmen peering in your windows to see if there's something you haven't got that they could sell you (for a better consumer experience), then just change your software.
Last edited by FreedomOfTheOpenCode on Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Nilla Wafer

Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by Nilla Wafer »

There is no "spy" code to remove. If you're not using Unity, there's no Amazon "spy" stuff to worry about.

And if Canonical makes a profit so they can continue making an awesome OS and giving it away for free, I'm glad for them. The better Ubuntu becomes (and the better funded), the better it is for Mint and every other Ubuntu derivative.

I'm sick of the Ubuntu / Canonical bashing in this forum. Distro-bashing is not tolerated in Ubuntu forums, nor in those of almost all other distros except this one. Biting the hand that feeds you is crass and classless.

I'm off to the Ubuntu web site to make a donation.

~nilla
craig10x

Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by craig10x »

Very Big +1 to that Nilla Wafer...this would be such a nice forum if it weren't for all the ubuntu bashing...those that do, are biting the hand that feeds them...as you pointed out, the better ubuntu becomes, the better mint can become as well...

I used Linux Mint for a number of years...that is how i got involved with this forum originally....returned to ubuntu when unity came out because i love that desktop...
I only turn off online dash searches because of the clutter (i guess i am a "neat freak'...lol)...not because they are spying on me...which is an absurd notion....it's just a little way for Canonical to get some extra funding money for ubuntu's development...they do not "pocket it"...same reason that you have ads on the mint forum...to help fund DEVELOPMENT...no sinister reasons...

The information is sent invisibly to the amazon servers which in term simply make some purchase suggestions...just like you get targeted ads when you use, say yahoo home page for example...It's on by default for one very simple reason...they are hoping you will leave it on...but at the same time, they provide a very simple way to turn it off...

Since i do turn it off, i make up for it by sending them donations every now and again...
As you mentioned...the Ubuntu forums do NOT tolerate distro bashing...in fact they are very welcoming and supportive to mint users who post over there...
I would love to see the same here but, fortunately, i am not "holding my breath".... :(
Last edited by craig10x on Wed Jan 15, 2014 10:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Pilosopong Tasyo
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Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by Pilosopong Tasyo »

Nilla Wafer wrote:...Biting the hand that feeds you is crass and classless...
Well put. People can be so over-reactive with trivial things and they are so fond of blowing things out of proportion and out of context.

"OMFG Ubuntu has become spyware/malware!!! Crucify Canonical!!! CRUCIFY!!! All Ubuntu followers are going to Hell!!! OMFG!!!"

Seriously folks, look up the meanings of adware, spyware and malware. Those are three different things. Calling Ubuntu spyware or malware is ludicrous. Advertisement-driven (adware) is more accurate. And it only applies to its Unity DE, specifically the Dash. :roll:
o Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime!
o If an issue has been fixed, please edit your first post and add the word [SOLVED].
viking777

Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by viking777 »

I agree with Stallman in many respects, except that, for me a robust 'opt in' policy to the Unity spyware suite instead of an 'opt out' one would satisfy me, after all we are being spied on all the time by everything from street surveillance cameras to store loyalty cards, so attempting to divorce yourself from what has sadly become reality is pretty well a hopeless cause.
However he is absolutely correct in saying you cannot tell people
"free software won't spy on you, unless it's Ubuntu,"
that is a nonsense and a betrayal of the very ideas that Linux enshrines.

I have sadly moved from Unity (the best DE Linux has ever had, bar none) to Lubuntu (not quite the worst DE Linux has ever had, but up there with the leaders) entirely because of Scopes spyware, and unless it is made completely opt in - ie the entire Scopes software is an add on that you download and install voluntarily from a Ubuntu repository, I will not be going back to Unity again. I am pretty certain I will not stay with Lubuntu though. And of course I am still using Mint with Cinnamon as well as Manjaro with Xfce.

What surprises me is that nobody I know of has yet taken the best bits of Unity (launcher WITH dodge windows, quicklists, global menu bar) and created a different distro with a spyware free Unity desktop. That is the way Clem started (making Ubuntu better than it was) and he hasn't done too badly out of it. Sadly (for me, not most of you I know) he will not be doing that again as he is too busy with Cinnamon and Mate etc. Still maybe somebody else will give it a go some day, I would certainly give the resulting distro a try.
FreedomOfTheOpenCode

Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by FreedomOfTheOpenCode »

Pilosopong Tasyo wrote:Calling Ubuntu spyware or malware is ludicrous. Advertisement-driven (adware) is more accurate
If it tracks and records what I am doing on my PC and uploads the data without my knowledge and permission, it seems like spyware to me. If it asks my permission first (and gets it) then it is not.
Last edited by FreedomOfTheOpenCode on Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
craig10x

Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by craig10x »

I swear...this so called privacy obsession by some linux users is pretty soon going to drive me back to windows :lol:

And will the ubuntu bashing ever stop here? Spyware shmyware...this is getting idiotic already...hey..you use the web? you surf sites? your activity (on the internet) is being tracked every where you go...that is the bottom line...and by the way, that includes this site as well...notice target ads on the forum? sure...but don't get mad at mint get mad at ubuntu...sheesh...i give up... :roll:

By the way, i can turn off those ads in my ubuntu with an off button in 5 seconds...but i can't turn off the mint ads unless i install an ad blocker...
Nilla Wafer

Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by Nilla Wafer »

craig10x wrote:I swear...this so called privacy obsession by some linux users is pretty soon going to drive me back to windows :lol:
It has driven me back to Xubuntu, actually...
And will the ubuntu bashing ever stop here?
I'm not sticking around to read it anymore.
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Pilosopong Tasyo
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Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by Pilosopong Tasyo »

craig10x wrote:And will the ubuntu bashing ever stop here?
Nah. Human nature. Ain't that a b!tch?
craig10x wrote:...and by the way, ...notice target ads on the forum?
Exactly. It's no different to the Unity Dash displaying Amazon ads.

Now where's that elusive "opt-out" button in the control panel? :lol:
o Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime!
o If an issue has been fixed, please edit your first post and add the word [SOLVED].
craig10x

Re: Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

Post by craig10x »

@ Pilosopong Tasyo: too funny :lol:
Yeah...come to think of it...where is that "opt out button" on the mint forum :wink:

Ads on the mint forum should be "opt in" not "opt out" wait...you can't even "opt out" hmmm sounds like Ubuntu has the better policy, eh?
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