Canonical being silly again - Can this not be in Kubuntu, please?

[Bings]

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/02/u...ection-opt-out

Canonical chose today, the international day of romance and overpriced heart-shaped key-rings, to tell the Ubuntu community of its plans to include a data collection tool in the Ubuntu 18.04 installer.
This feature will compile a stack of salient information about system hardware and then send it back to Canonical.

I know you can opt out etc but normalising this stuff is just thin end of the wedge. Are Canonical going to decide they want even more information next time? They really should have got the message with the amazon search debacle. I don't know how similar Kubuntu and Ubuntu's installers are but I though in case it's relevant, I'd make a suggestion for this not to be in it.

[TWPonKubuntu]

This sends shivers down my spine. NOT a good precedent and far too easy to expand to include other data... Data which might be used to identify each individual user.

If it can be stripped from each distro, before it is allowed to enter the repositories, it is a step in the right direction.

I see a market for a tool which searches for and removes the code. We already have malware snoopers, add another profile to find and extract this from a system.

Keep on eye on this...

[MoonRise]

Exactly what M$ does. Not surprising to me any more.

[claydoh]

Is this any different from what Mozilla does on firefox?

Sent from my LG-H931 using Tapatalk

[Rod J]

Well, I personally don't have a problem with this. If the data is used for the stated purpose it's OK by me.

[jglen490]

Of course, it depends on being non-personalized. Generalized, O.K. Personalized, I'm gone.

[claydoh]

As they are interested in knowing which flavours are being installed, this could be useful to Kubuntu, methinks, let alone other ones. Also, just like with the Amazon "fiasco" I trust that the privacy crowd will yell loudly if there are any issues.

[jglen490]

Again, personalized or generalized? And that will cause a problem, because if they want to know statistics about installations, they have to know something unique about the platform. It will be very easy to collect personal information once they access a machine, it will also be very easy to collect machine level information that would be difficult to associate with a person. Difficult, but not impossible. They need to define how they intend to collect info that is unique to a machine without relating it to a user.

I hope they do, and if they care about their "consumer" base. Yes, Kubuntu is free, and so they may only care if it would be worthwhile to keep supporting Kubuntu or not. They still don't have an automatic "right" to personal info just because the product is without cost.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Much depends on our open source watch dogs who look at the code and determine whether it is scraping more data than they claim.

Personally, I don't want a profile of my system to be stored in a database external to my system. I won't give permission for this collection and consider it an invasion of my privacy.

Yes, I didn't just fall of the turnip truck and I realize that everything we do online is "not secure"... BUT I draw the line when my profile is extracted and stored elsewhere.

And this is before we consider whether other data is being scraped at the same time, without our knowledge. Read my signature...

[jglen490]

So I went to the OP's link and used my Disqus signin to log in and make a comment: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/02/u...ent-3760597836

I don't know that Canonical is looking there any more than they are/aren't looking here, but at least get your concerns out.

[Qqmike]

TWPonKubuntu: Read my signature... If You're Not Paranoid Yet, You Should Be.

A saying among shrinks: Just because you are feeling paranoid doesn't mean that someone is not following you.

[jglen490]

Oh, so true.

And here is the announcement at Ubuntu:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/040139.html

[whatthefunk]

Im fine with this. Dont have a problem with them collecting anonymous info about my system to allow them to make further improvements.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Oh, so true.

And here is the announcement at Ubuntu:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/040139.html

Do Read the list thread. It will give you a better idea of what is planned and that other people have the same concerns which are being expressed in our thread, here.

I'll reiterate what I interpreted from the list thread:

1) The system data is to be send ONCE, at install time, unless the installer DEselects the report option.

2) Popcon Will be installed if the installer elects to allow the report. It will not be installed if the installer DEselects the report option

3) Apport Will be installed if the installer elects to allow the report. It will not be installed if the installer DEselects the report option

4) Popcon and Apport would continue to run, sending data back to Canonical, if the initial report is allowed.

5) After the fact, if the end user DEselects the report option, then Popcon and Apport will also be disabled.

I note a comment about pre-installed systems where the person doing the actual OS install, may not be aware of the report option, or that it is opt-out. That would scrape the system data and add it to the database, even if the final system user did not want to be "counted".

Opt-out is not the correct choice on this option. Too many people will simply not be aware. Not everybody is a Linux geek (I are one).

[jglen490]

There is no positive assertion about NOT collecting personal info, aside from the "We do not collect IP data". While that is important, it's not all there is with respect to the collection of personal information. While there is still time, I may have to opt-out ...