Privacy features in Touch (cyanogenmod)?

[Benjamin Kerensa]

On Jun 22, 2013 7:16 AM, "Matthew Paul Thomas" <mpt at canonical.com> wrote:
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> Matt B. wrote on 18/06/13 14:26:
> > ...
> >
> > Can the upcoming Ubuntu-Touch incorporate some of the
> > cynaogenmod-like Privacy features into Ubuntu Touch?
> >
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/06/how-cyanogenmods-founder-is-giving-android-users-their-privacy-back/
> >
> In the next couple of weeks I will design the UI for apps to request
> privileges on Ubuntu Touch.
>
> When installing an app, Android shows you a list of privileges the app
> will require -- accessing your contacts, accessing your current
> location, and so on. If you decline, the app doesn't install.
>
> This is poor design. Of all the time you spend with an app, the moment
> you're about to install it is the moment when you know the least about
> it. So it's the moment when you're least able to make informed
> decisions about granting those privileges. And if an app developer can
> assume that consent will be uninformed, they're more likely to abuse
> that consent.
>
> Cyanogenmod is working around that, by letting you reduce an app's
> privileges after installation. But that requires you to notice, and
> care, and remember, and know how to change it -- four difficult things.
>
> On Ubuntu, an app will request a privilege during runtime. For
> example, a game might have a "find my friends who already play this
> game" function, that accesses your contacts. The game would work just
> fine if you don't use this function. But if you do use it, Ubuntu
> would then -- and only then -- ask you if you want to grant the app
> access to your contacts.
>
> An app could still ask for a privilege immediately when you launch it.
> But you'd be much less likely to allow it, in that case, than in
> response to an obviously related command. And if a privilege wasn't
> obviously essential to an app, but the app installed *and then*
> refused to work without that privilege, it would be ridiculed and
> downrated.
>
> With our current plan for online accounts, the privacy will go even
> further: an app won't even know *whether* you have a particular kind
> of account unless you grant access to that app.
>
> > I'd also like to see the ability of Ubuntu Desktop to be able to
> > control what apps can and cannot connect to the internet etc.
>
> If anyone would like to implement this, I designed firewall settings a
> couple of years ago. <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Networking#firewall>
>
> > Unfortunately all Ubuntu seems to be working on is features that
> > create privacy concerns (like the scopes sending search requests to
> > Canonical servers).
> >
> > ...
>
> Ubuntu is an operating system, not a person. Neither you nor I get to
> decide priorities for Canonical engineers. But anyone is welcome to
> implement privacy features and propose them for inclusion in Ubuntu.
>

Canonical Engineers have pretty much ignored the proposal of even one
member of the Ubuntu Tech Board in regards to user privacy.

What makes you believe if Canonical ignores a former security team
member/current tech board member and the EFF that they will give anyone
else's proposal the time of day?

The sad thing is the community does nearly as much work to produce Ubuntu
but has almost no say in its direction or features.

I think at this point the best option for privacy is to install a community
flavor.

> I have designed fine-grained settings for the home screen search on
> the phone, including whether it accesses the Internet at all.
> <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityAndPrivacySettings#phone-search> I
> would be delighted to see equivalent settings implemented for the PC too.
>
> - --
> mpt
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux)
> Comment: Using GnuPG with undefined - http://www.enigmail.net/
>
> iEYEARECAAYFAlHFsLUACgkQ6PUxNfU6ecqmwgCfaCSf2OKEtfnJjr/Q80Gsst1O
> QJ8Ani01xQK/MwbJtR6dymjJGqOlszAt
> =XIbh
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
> --
> Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list
> Ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-discuss/attachments/20130623/b5ade32e/attachment.html>