Does Ubuntu upload personal information by default and without permission now?

[Didier Roche]

Le 11/10/2011 13:43, Jo-Erlend Schinstad a écrit :
> I was a little bit surprised to read that the Music Lense will 
> actually send your searches to an online database by default and 
> without asking any permission beforehand. In earlier versions of 
> Ubuntu, things like popcon have not been activated by default and 
> you've always been confident that there are no open ports and no data 
> being transmitted unless you've asked for it.
>
> I had difficulties believing this to be true, so I tested it. I 
> searched for an artist of which I have no records, and sure enough, 
> the music lense told me I could purchase it. I then disconnected from 
> the network and searched again and this time, I got no advertisement. 
> A very simple test that anyone can perform, and it indicated to me 
> that the search was indeed being sent to some online service. Does 
> this apply to all my searches? What else is being uploaded about me?
>
> I was just about to sniff my network to see for myself when I came to 
> my senses... If people even get the impression that they are being 
> monitored by their own system, then Ubuntu has certainly lost. 
> Technologies like Zeitgeist are great, but they also mean it's more 
> important than ever that absolutely no information is being 
> transmitted without asking permission first and that user always knows 
> what is being sent. The feeling of loosing that confidence was not a 
> good one.
>
> I think the advertisements in the lenses, whether it's for software or 
> music, needs to be deactivated. Not only does it validate the notion 
> that Ubuntu is "free for a reason, just like GMail", but it might also 
> cause users to loose confidence in their own privacy.
>
> It just isn't worth it.
>
> Jo-Erlend Schinstad
>

Hey Jo-Erland,

Thanks for sharing your concern, however this is only for music 
searches, nothing personal to you is uploaded. It's the same than the 
automatic apt-get update which is done: there is a request with your ip 
to get the latest package list, so a connexion on the network you are 
maybe not aware of.

This search is performed by the ubuntuone music scope from the music 
lens (unity-scope-musicstores) that you can remove independtly from the 
music lens. This is not at all advertisement, but just a way for people 
to find the same result that they can perform in banshee with the 
ubuntuone music store.

Just note that you can basically have the same reaction when banshee is 
looking for a thumbnail of the currently listened albums and we heard no 
complain about it? I get your reaction is only because you perceive it 
as advertisement, which is not the case there? What can we do so that 
it's not perceived this way?

Didier