Privacy features in Touch (cyanogenmod)?

[Scott Kitterman]

On Sunday, June 23, 2013 11:31:29 AM Martin Albisetti wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 4:41 AM, Benjamin Kerensa <bkerensa at ubuntu.com> 
wrote:
> >> > 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?
> 
> It was not ignored, it was read, understood and taken into account.
> The fact that someone thinks that within their own domain of
> expertise, a feature should be disabled, it doesn't mean that in the
> overall context it should.
> The trade-off of the scopes features was well understood and just like
> many other controversial decisions that have been made over the years,
> it was decided that overall it would benefit the project the most in
> the mid/long-term.
> 
> > The sad thing is the community does nearly as much work to produce Ubuntu
> > but has almost no say in its direction or features.
> 
> Please don't troll a random thread that only vaguely overlaps with a
> topic you are personally unhappy with. So far the conversation has
> been friendly, productive and positive.
> I expect much more from someone with a position of leadership in the
> community reviewing candidates for approval of official members, and
> so does the Code of Conduct[1].
> 
> > I think at this point the best option for privacy is to install a
> > community
> > flavor.
> 
> Or just perform 3 clicks and disable the scopes connecting to the
> servers to send your query and return smarter results.
> 
> 
> [1] http://www.ubuntu.com/about/about-ubuntu/conduct

I think you're throwing the CoC at someone for expressing dissent is worse.  
It's not like he's expressing a perspective that's not reasonably widely held.

Personally, I think lack of control over privacy is one of the major 
shortcomings in all the major offerings available today and if Ubuntu Phone 
were to significantly distinguish itself in this regard it would be a positive 
discriminator in it's favor for users.  Phones are a bit trickier though 
because in many cases (virtually all in the US) the "customer" for a phone OS 
is either the hardware manufacturer or the telco.  These customers may have a 
different perspective on privacy, so I think it's quit natural that there's 
tension on this topic.

Scott K