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

[Jason Warner]

Hi Jo-Erlend ,

Thanks for taking the time to write up your thoughts and caring enough about
Ubuntu to share them with the list!

I have some general thoughts on this and then more specific music lens
thoughts.

Privacy is an important component of Ubuntu computing and we take that
seriously. As Ubuntu opens more networked services, privacy continues to be
a core value.

Specifically with the Music Lens, the data sent and the results returned are
innocuous in nature (there is no user specific information sent etc), though
I acknowledge that some people will simply not want this additional
functionality if they consider this a breach of their personal privacy. As
we strive to bring value to our users, we are also committed to ensuring
privacy continues to be a core value.

While we suspect most users will have no concern about the data sent and
returned, for those who do the current way to remove this is to simply
uninstall the music scope[1]. I recognize that this is neither optional nor
user friendly so I'll be looking at adding opt-out options for services like
this in the future generally and specifically for this one in a possible
SRU.

Bottom line, everyone needs to be concerned with privacy now and in the
future and it must be balanced with adding great services for the vast
majority of people. Again, thanks for bringing this up, it was great input.
It raised an area that we can improve and are going to do just that!

Thanks,
Jason

[1] - apt-get remove --purge unity-scope-musicstores



On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 12:43 PM, Jo-Erlend Schinstad <
joerlend.schinstad at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>
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