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    #1

    Article - Welcome to Ubuntu 18.04 Make yourself at GNOME. Cup of data-slurping dispu

    Full title:

    Welcome to Ubuntu 18.04: Make yourself at GNOME. Cup of data-slurping dispute, anyone?

    Before you read this article I will admit, proudly, that I am engaged in "stirring the pot". I believe it is necessary to keep things visible and not allow changes to remain submerged and out of sight. That (low key "features" and changes) is a practice which we DO NOT need in the Linux sphere.

    The author, In My Opinion, falls in the camp of those who say "I'm ok with allowing data collection by the OS and DE creators". The other camp, which is where I come from, does NOT accept or encourage this practice. YMMV

    So, read the article and make your own choice. It is specific to Canonical and GNome, right now...

    "Comment Ubuntu 18.04, launched last month, included a new Welcome application that runs the first time you boot into your new install. The Welcome app does several things, including offering to opt you out of Canonical's new data collection tool."
    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/0...ow_turbulence/

    I'll congratulate the author for being honest and up-front about his views on this subject, even if I disagree.

    I DO NOT like the fact that this is an opt-out process. Far too many people will click through without reading the "fine print" or thinking about the consequences. This should be opt-in, from the start, but that would not offer the same amount of data to Canonical, because those same people would click through and not offer their data to the developers even if they so choose.

    Before the flaming begins, note that this particular data set may, indeed, be innocuous and benign. This will have the effect of reducing suspicions and make users just that much more willing to accept the next level of data collection which may (might, perhaps, maybe) come down the pipe. The time to stop this kind of practice is right now, with a hard and loud "NO!" response.

    [flame on]...
    Kubuntu 24.04 64bit under Kernel 6.9.1, Hp Pavilion, 6MB ram. All Bow To The Great Google... cough, hack, gasp.
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    #2
    I'm in the "I'm ok with allowing data collection by the OS and DE creators" camp myself.

    We are using a free operating system. Don't you think it's right that the developers, etc could use some feedback on what they are creating/distributing? If I was a developer I would really like to know whether people using my software like or dislike the software I'm creating. I really don't have a problem with this type of data collection at all ... period.

    I agree with the author of the article completely.
    Desktop PC: Intel Core-i5-4670 3.40Ghz, 16Gb Crucial ram, Asus H97-Plus MB, 128Gb Crucial SSD + 2Tb Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 HDD running Kubuntu 18.04 LTS and Kubuntu 14.04 LTS (on SSD).
    Laptop: HP EliteBook 8460p Core-i5-2540M, 4Gb ram, Transcend 120Gb SSD, currently running Deepin 15.8 and Manjaro KDE 18.
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      #3
      I understand the sensitivity people have about privacy concerns. I got 'm, too, as a liberal of sorts. But, fact is, lets' face it: Do you live alone on the desert and off the grid? Are you a very wealthy person who can basically ignore/avoid/protect against so much "mixing" with the public (you don't need a car loan, you can pay cash)? I'm neither of those. There is so much sh&:-)t collected on each of us that what does it really matter? Do you know what it takes to get a decent home owner's policy (including a drive-by home/property inspection and credit report)? Have you heard of facial recognition software? Do you use any on-line services for, say, paying by credit card? accessing health records? Have you googled your property address to see if the photo of your house (including areal view of attachments, sheds, and misc. on your property) is current? Do you know you can access your county property records and see who owns the house next door, and who owns your house, too? As most of you know quite well, I could go on and on for many paragraphs with such examples about how--already--your privacy has been shot all to hlle. Your privacy is already invaded! In many cases, So what! As long a you are not doing anything illegal. The very least of my concerns are those in the OP!
      An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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        #4
        Rod J
        ...
        "Don't you think it's right that the developers, etc could use some feedback on what they are creating/distributing?"
        ...
        The problem, IMO, is the manner in which that feedback is collected.

        So long as it were opt-in. I want to have the choice to offer my data, not by default, but by selection.

        Am I splitting hairs? I don't think of it that way.

        Let's not train people to automatically trust in the choices which are preselected by somebody else. That is how Redmond works...
        Kubuntu 24.04 64bit under Kernel 6.9.1, Hp Pavilion, 6MB ram. All Bow To The Great Google... cough, hack, gasp.
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          #5
          Qqmike;

          You seem to have given up... I'm sorry, but that way lies major problems and further loss of privacy.

          I cannot go that way in life.
          Kubuntu 24.04 64bit under Kernel 6.9.1, Hp Pavilion, 6MB ram. All Bow To The Great Google... cough, hack, gasp.
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            #6
            I have a friend who has avoided--he refuses--all this technology stuff, claiming privacy issues. No computer, for example. He's not dumb, not poor -- he smart and fairly well-to-do. I try to tell him he may not have gone on-line himself, but he IS on line in many ways. We are talking on the phone about this subject, and as we do, I google his house and check out the property, noticing the photo is recent within a few years; and I google his mother's obituary (in NY). I casually start in on him: "I like that addition you put on your garage for your home business. Is that a rubberized flat roof? Has the county property tax assessor been around lately?" And so on ... he's shocked. And then, "Interesting. Your girl friend's name is the same as your mother's, which is unusual since their name is a bit unusual!" He's silent (we have never talked about any details concerning his mother, except she passed away a few years ago.) I even searched his business and got a rough estimate of his annual sales. (That didn't set well at all with him.) You get the idea. And any of us could conduct such a search on anyone else.

            You seem to have given up ...
            Oh no, not me! I am always aware of this problem and do things almost every day to try to keep some or part of myself and my life under the radar ... I tear things up before I run them through my cross-shredder ... My credit files are (protectively) fully frozen ... and so on ...
            An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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              #7
              Qqmike; I will hold some hope for you then. But do try to resist that urge to use those tools from the dark side... Ok?
              Kubuntu 24.04 64bit under Kernel 6.9.1, Hp Pavilion, 6MB ram. All Bow To The Great Google... cough, hack, gasp.
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                #8
                I made my opinion clear on this thread so I won't do again. I get what the guy is saying about misinformation but that is a lot of the problem of developers who skulk on mailing lists giving out half the story. With my regards to my thread, eventually I feel it was figured a sense of knowing what was going on by discussion between users but noone from Kubuntu said a thing and I haven't seen anything from any other of the derivatives. Which should have been done as one of the bits of information was which flavour was being used and although I have seen any of the derivatives adopt this, it's at least fair to assume it was at the least desired for them to do so. Not that I feel entitled to a response personally to my thread but it was a pretty fair stink at the time and still is, so some sort of statement should be made. Instead we have websites quoting discussions on mailing lists as news.
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                  #9
                  I think Ubuntu and Ubuntu Mate are the only ones who've asked for data at the time of installation.

                  However, if the Kubuntu devs feel it would be helpful, they could ask their users, here or in the mailing lists or via Reddit, to submit the output of something like
                  Code:
                  inxi -Fxz
                  I wouldn't mind at all
                  Kubuntu 20.04
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