Richard Stallman on Ubuntu spying

[coffee412]

This blog from Richard Stallman ( http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/ubuntu-spyware-what-to-do ) talks about the evil of ubuntu. I certainly understand his point of view and agree with it. Gee, Thats why Im here basically. But I do have a question beyond that.

My question is, Does the spying code run on all the desktop spins offered by ubuntu or just on unity? Also, Does mint remove this code from their fork of ubuntu or not? Also coming to mind if its present in ubuntu server 12.04 ?

Im sorry, I have not kept up on this issue as I have been quite busy with other things. I did hear a bit about it a while ago but that was it.

Thanks in advance,

coffee412

[Dwel]

I would use LMDE or straight Debian. Or LMDE.

[bimsebasse]

Mint uses evil nonfree plugins and evil codecs and other evil stuff - you'll need to find a new distro altogether if you want to go all-in with this nonsense.

[hugoleal85]

I know Mint have nonfree codecs. My question is: Does Mint have this specific "Ubuntu spyware" or not?

Thanks in advance.

[kc1di]

My question is, Does the spying code run on all the desktop spins offered by ubuntu or just on unity? Also, Does mint remove this code from their fork of ubuntu or not? Also coming to mind if its present in ubuntu server 12.04 ?


Thanks in advance,

coffee412

as far as I know it only affects the unity desktop as others do not have that search function. So if you stay away from Unity you should be alright. But that said who knows what Ubuntu may be planning behind closed doors

[altair4]

You can turn it off or completely remove this "feature" if you want in Ubuntu: http://askubuntu.com/questions/192269/h ... m-the-dash

I just did a search in synaptic and Mint does not have the package installed: unity-lens-shopping

[bimsebasse]

I know Mint have nonfree codecs. My question is: Does Mint have this specific "Ubuntu spyware" or not?

Thanks in advance.

You moved to Mint from Ubuntu because... "the evil of ubuntu. I certainly understand his point of view and agree with it. Gee, Thats why Im here basically" - apart from the brand new shopping lens, which can be disabled easily, Ubuntu is more FOSS than Mint, so that doesn't make any kind of sense.

At the speed we're going now, independent thought will be absent from the internet come 2037.

[kc1di]

At the speed we're going now, independent thought will be absent from the internet come 2037.

Not as long as your here bimsebasse, Independent thought will still be around and that's a good thing

[MALsPa]

The new shopping lens should be opt-in, not opt-out, Hopefully they'll change it to opt-in in the future.

But, calling it spyware is an exaggeration. And, as has been pointed out, one can turn it off, or even use another desktop in Ubuntu instead of Unity.

And, I agree with bimsebasse here:

apart from the brand new shopping lens, which can be disabled easily, Ubuntu is more FOSS than Mint

[fraxinus_63]

The new shopping lens should be opt-in, not opt-out, Hopefully they'll change it to opt-in in the future.

But, calling it spyware is an exaggeration. And, as has been pointed out, one can turn it off, or even use another desktop in Ubuntu instead of Unity.

Agreed.

[coffee412]

Checked Ubuntu Server 12.05 -- Nope. Not there.
Checked Mint 14 -- Nope not there either.

Therefore, Im happy. I like the codecs being added. I dont really see the codecs as evil. I just see them as icing on the cake.

Thanks for the replies everyone!

coffee

[aes2011]

... At the speed we're going now, independent thought will be absent from the internet come 2037.

+1. It's rare enough already

[palo]

The often used term "spying" is very strong - kind of a paranoia. Not using or defending Unity but I like Google, for example, because it does keep track of my location and searches and makes things more relevant for me, but some people think that practice is evil and spying. The "free" software that I have used often lacks the function to be very useful. Not to discount the contributions Stallman has made, Linus Torvalds remarked that his black and white thinking is ultimately not very good for us. Give me all the non-free stuff you got Mint - don't hold back - keep it useful.

Pat

[asaguiar]

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

[altair4]

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)!

Au contraire mon petit ami:

I just did a search in synaptic and Mint does not have the package installed: unity-lens-shopping

Checked Ubuntu Server 12.05 -- Nope. Not there.
Checked Mint 14 -- Nope not there either.

Therefore, Im happy.

[mockturtl]

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)!

RTFT

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.

http://sourceforge.net/p/peerguardian/wiki/pgl-Main/

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!!!

"Build a bridge out of her!"

[craig10x]

Both the amazon shopping in ubuntu's dash (search) bar and recording of all activity can easily be disabled in ubuntu...they provide those options in the "privacy settings" section of the system settings..takes about a minute....no biggie

Really can't figure why such a fuss is made about this...some even like the amazon results in the search and certainly with all the huge amount of investment Shuttleworth makes in ubuntu, he shouldn't be criticized for wanting to get a bit of $ back....

Don't forget, ubuntu is the "base" that mint is built around...and a better ubuntu can only mean a better mint too

[bimsebasse]

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

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!