[Bug 1701068] Re: motd.ubuntu.com currently shows media item (HBO's Silicon Valley using Ubuntu)

[Horatio Trobinson]

1) This is ideological content and it's not being used to disseminate
technical or factual knowledge that is useful to the user.

I would be less inclined to be critical if the non-relevant information
delivered was content that helped to amplify the work of a world-
renowned charity (say, MSF for example) butthe relevant news I've seen
are just part of a certain Silicon Valley-dominated ideology, and as
such it presents the potential of being inadvertently used as a
propaganda vehicle to advance particular interests of a specific group
of people.

2) It doean't seem that enough precautions have been taken to avoid
makibg motd a central point of failure. It doesn't seem to take into
accoubt that there's a potebtial for privacy and exploit problems
generated for desktop users, without offeribg a straightforward
opportunity to opt out. It's a practice that should at a minimum be part
of an optional and customisable policy kit in enterprise environments.

3) For technical reasons and other reasons explained above, I
respectfuly suggest that this practice should be completely reconsidered
in further detail or discontinued altogether.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1701068

Title:
  motd.ubuntu.com currently shows media item (HBO's Silicon Valley using
  Ubuntu)

Status in base-files package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  In Ubuntu 17.04 or newer, there is a script at /etc/update-motd.d/50
  -motd-news that reads https://motd.ubuntu.com/ and displays that text
  with the rest of the MOTD.

  Currently, https://motd.ubuntu.com shows a news item about HBO's Silicon Valley which has a reference to Ubuntu. 
  Instead, https://motd.ubuntu.com should show relevant items to those that 
  use Ubuntu Server (relevant security issues, etc), instead of items for desktop users.

  =============================
  Welcome to Ubuntu 17.04 (GNU/Linux 4.10.0-21-generic x86_64)

   * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com
   * Management:     https://landscape.canonical.com
   * Support:        https://ubuntu.com/advantage

   * How HBO's Silicon Valley built "Not Hotdog" with mobile TensorFlow,
     Keras & React Native on Ubuntu
     - https://ubu.one/HBOubu
  ==============================

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.04
  Package: base-files 9.6ubuntu13
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.10.0-24.28-generic 4.10.15
  Uname: Linux 4.10.0-24-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.4-0ubuntu4
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Wed Jun 28 12:31:24 2017
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-05-02 (56 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus" - Release amd64 (20170412)
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=xterm-256color
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: base-files
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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