Ubuntu collects information from your system including hardware and software and sends them to Ubuntu servers. The data includes the information about the packages you have installed, how you are using it, and the applications crash reports.
Should Ubuntu users be able to see their system STATS?
Thankfully for my nerves (and no doubt the bods over at Canonical HQ) the majority of Ubuntu users are okay with the stated aims — a bit of anonymous system stat profiling isn’t a major cause for concern, tbh — plus we’re told the metrics will help improve Ubuntu. Even better: Canonical publishes the results of the survey online for anyone to see.
The report does provide some interesting insights into how people use Ubuntu and what kind of configuration they opt for their Ubuntu install. 67% of Ubuntu 18.04 ‘opted’ to share their data. I deliberately used quotes on opted here because data sharing is opt-in by default.
Does ubuntu spy on users?
The answer is no. Linux in its vanilla form does not spy on its users. However people have used the Linux kernel in certain distributions that is known to spy on its users. What to do after installing Ubuntu?
When the user searches her own local files for a string using the Ubuntu desktop, Ubuntu sends that string to one of Canonical’s servers. (Canonical is the company that develops Ubuntu.) This is just like the first surveillance practice I learned about in Windows.
Ubuntu allows users to switch the surveillance off. Clearly Canonical thinks that many Ubuntu users will leave this setting in the default state (on). And many may do so, because it doesn’t occur to them to try to do anything about it. Thus, the existence of that switch does not make the surveillance feature ok.
Since Ubuntu version 16.04, the spyware search facility is now disabled by default. It appears that the campaign of pressure launched by this article has been partly successful. Nonetheless, offering the spyware search facility as an option is still a problem, as explained below.
What does Ubuntu 18 04 collect?
Ubuntu 18.04 collects data about your PC’s hardware and software, which packages you have installed, and application crash reports, sending them all to Ubuntu’s servers. You can opt out of this data collection—but you have to do it in three separate places.
Why has canonical abandoned the Ubuntu spyware?
But Canonical has not abandoned the Ubuntu spyware. Perhaps Canonical figures that the name “Ubuntu” has so much momentum and influence that it can avoid the usual consequences and get away with surveillance. Canonical says this feature searches the Internet in other ways.