Ubuntu ‘Spyware’ Will Be Disabled In Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

[patrick3027]

A bit of Linux news today:

Canonical disabled Amazon product results on fresh installs of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and up (though results from other online sources and services continue to appear until the opt-out is chosen).

For the next LTS, Ubuntu 16.04, Canonical curtails the contentious online searching feature entirely, right out of the box, just like the EFF asked them to do in 2012.

“None of your search terms will leave your computer,” Ubuntu desktop manager Will Cooke explains, noting that the “finer control over what is searched and [the] more targeted results” that Unity 8 offers “cannot be added into Unity 7.”

It’s for this reason that “the online search features [of Unity 7] will be retired.”

The change will also lower the support and infrastructure burden of Unity 7. With fewer Unity search results to handle Canonical can redirect time and engineering effort to more exciting avenues, like the promising Unity 8 desktop.

[...]

Summary

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS will no longer search online sources in the Dash by default

Online results can be turned back on manually using a toggle

A second opt-in allows Amazon product results

The change only affects new installs. In-place upgrades will retain user preferences

Source: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/01/ubuntu-online-search-feature-disabled-16-04

[alexyy]

At least they're doing something about it.

[LAwLz]

That's what they should have done from the start.

Better late than never I guess.

[Nineshadow]

So few people like Unity though...

[patrickjp93]

So few people like Unity though...

You can install any desktop you want in Ubuntu, though I'd argue Unity is better than whatever's running on my university's Linux lab. I think it's Cinammon.

[Burusutazu]

I never really saw a problem with this since it was just a privacy setting.

[Misanthrope]

So few people like Unity though...

 

You can install any desktop you want in Ubuntu, though I'd argue Unity is better than whatever's running on my university's Linux lab. I think it's Cinammon.

 

Real men use Openbox:

 

[elkenrod]

You can install any desktop you want in Ubuntu, though I'd argue Unity is better than whatever's running on my university's Linux lab. I think it's Cinammon.

You'd better check twice.

 

Cinnamon 2.6 is legit

 

[patrickjp93]

Real men use Openbox:

I've been reluctant to try Arch. I may have time this semester.

[SurvivorNVL]

Real men use Openbox:

-That IS What She Said-

^

[Misanthrope]

I've been reluctant to try Arch. I may have time this semester.

 

I think you might enjoy it. Package management is different from Fedora and Ubuntu but you have a lot more control over which repositories you use while you still can compile it yourself if you feel like it. However I recommend using it on a virtual box of sorts since it is updated extremely quickly and regressions and shit breaking is not unheard of (but then again you'll be the first one with patches and newest versions)

[Fetzie]

About time.

 

Although it was a bit amusing to listen to how somebody was sick and tired of Microsoft spying on them, and that they switched to Ubuntu because of that.

[Humbug]

Although it was a bit amusing to listen to how somebody was sick and tired of Microsoft spying on them, and that they switched to Ubuntu because of that.

I guess... though it's not the same.

Ubuntu was just sending the text from the desktop search box to Canonical when used. Not a good practice I agree. But hardly comparable to windows 10.

I suppose also the open-source nature and ability to easily audit the code makes people less fearful.

[suicidalfranco]

About time.

 

Although it was a bit amusing to listen to how somebody was sick and tired of Microsoft spying on them, and that they switched to Ubuntu because of that.

at least on ubu you know what's going out and when it's going out

[QueenDemetria]

at least on ubu you know what's going out and when it's going out

and if you remove/change something, you can confirm its actually being fixed.

[Albatross]

One of the many reasons why Linux > others.

 

Can't wait for the next LTS by the way. <33

 

So few people like Unity though...

 

I didn't like it at first. I hated it so much. But it grew on me, and I find it easier and nice looking than the more common environments. But at least you can install whatever you like, and that is easy.

[Fetzie]

at least on ubu you know what's going out and when it's going out

 

 

and if you remove/change something, you can confirm its actually being fixed.

 

Mhh, with Windows 10 I'm not even convinced that the hosts file entries set by SpyBot Anti-Beacon actually do anything. If Edge bypasses the hosts file then their telemetry almost certainly will. That stuff needs to be stopped at the network level via your gateway.

[LAwLz]

Mhh, with Windows 10 I'm not even convinced that the hosts file entries set by SpyBot Anti-Beacon actually do anything. If Edge bypasses the hosts file then their telemetry almost certainly will. That stuff needs to be stopped at the network level via your gateway.

The telemetry data most likely does. It ignores proxy settings at the very least.

 

And finally, some traffic seems quite impenetrable. We configured our test virtual machine to use an HTTP and HTTPS proxy (both as a user-level proxy and a system-wide proxy) so that we could more easily monitor its traffic, but Windows 10 seems to make requests to a content delivery network that bypass the proxy.

 

So yeah, you are going to need to get a hardware firewall to block Microsoft from collecting telemetry. They are very serious about doing it and have gone to great lengths to make it happen.

[Dabombinable]

Real men use Openbox:

 

That reminds me-time to have a crack at learning Arch.

 

 

The telemetry data most likely does. It ignores proxy settings at the very least.

 

So yeah, you are going to need to get a hardware firewall to block Microsoft from collecting telemetry. They are very serious about doing it and have gone to great lengths to make it happen.

I had one in the works that was also going to double as a VPN gateway between my devices and the Internet. But all of the motherboards that I was thinking of using died (electrolytic caps from the bad manufacturers dying well after they should have).

[Nena Trinity]

Was there not a way to shut it off yourself?

[Burusutazu]

Was there not a way to shut it off yourself?

Privacy settings.

[Nena Trinity]

Privacy settings.

Yeah there! So why is it such big news? o3o