5 ms·

I want the option to opt out before I'm forcibly opted in and can possibly trigger the functionality. Even Windows 8 religiously asks you these questions at fi

by meaty 14y ago

I want the option to opt out before I'm forcibly opted in and can possibly trigger the functionality. Even Windows 8 religiously asks you these questions at first boot after installation.

patrickaljord 14y ago
Windows 8 isn't gratis, you can complain but you can't demand anything from a free (as in gratis) product.
- meaty 14y ago
  You can't demand anything from a non-free product either so I don't get what the difference is. However, I can not use it which is how I've decided to deal with this issue.
- Innocuous 14y ago
  Maybe, but remember that we are the same people that installed/pushed Ubuntu on the computers from our family and friends and gave free support on forums and irc. We did that because we believed it was a better alternative. So some of us get passionate when advertisements creep in the default installation...
- trhtrsh 14y ago
  Can I demand, say, that a website doesn't install some virus/spamware/malware, even if it's free?
moystard 14y ago
I guess you don't use Firefox as well, as they "force" you to use Google at first?
- meaty 14y ago
  Yes I do use Firefox and that's a rather silly assertion if you consider the technical implementation. In the case of Firefox, a default search page for Google is included in the Firefox Chrome as is a default search engine. The default page doesn't call home at all until you enter a search i.e. until you use it. The rest of the browser is functional without using this feature, so you can type "duckduckgo.com" without transmitting data to google. The same is not true for the Unity shopping lens which transmits your searches for local data and applications on your workstation to Canonical and Amazon by default.
  - gman99 14y ago
    Firefox: Nothing transmitted to Google until you perform a search. Unity: Nothing transmitted to Amazon until you perform a search Sure, I'm not agreeing with the default out of the box functionality, but other than the fact that user expectation is that a local search does not transmit information to remote servers (same issue as chrome's omnibox for typing URLs) it is exactly the same. But maybe Canonical should make it explicit what the default does (maybe they do, I don't know) Install the OS, Click on gear icon (top right), settings, privacy, turn off online results Point is your specific criticism can be levelled at firefox as well
    - lambda 14y ago
      But in the case of Firefox, you are explicitly trying to do a web search. While in Unity, you are just running your local app launcher. Confusing a private local search for your own files with an online search that sends information to a third party is is a fairly substantial privacy issue, and the fact that Canonical is just blowing it off (by saying "we already have root") is incredibly concerning about their judgement.
    - meaty 14y ago
      Utter crap. Have you actually tested this? i have! If I enter analyze.com in the address bar and stop at anal, nothing happens. Nothing is sent. If i enter analyse in the unity launcher and stop at anal, i get a nasty surprise and permanently get my ip address tagged with anal.
      - gman99 14y ago
        To be fair, I did say this was in Chrome where you get find-as-you-type results. And secondly, your ip address is not logged. The data sent to Amazon is via Canonical and it's anonymised. If you don't trust Canonical, why are you concerned about using a distribution from them? Edit: I'm not saying there is no problem and I'm fine with all of this. Just that I wish better arguments were put forward (I'd personally like the functionality made explicit during install/upgrade)
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

by meaty 14y ago

I want the option to opt out before I'm forcibly opted in and can possibly trigger the functionality. Even Windows 8 religiously asks you these questions at first boot after installation.

patrickaljord 14y ago

Windows 8 isn't gratis, you can complain but you can't demand anything from a free (as in gratis) product.

meaty 14y ago
You can't demand anything from a non-free product either so I don't get what the difference is. However, I can not use it which is how I've decided to deal with this issue.
Innocuous 14y ago
Maybe, but remember that we are the same people that installed/pushed Ubuntu on the computers from our family and friends and gave free support on forums and irc. We did that because we believed it was a better alternative. So some of us get passionate when advertisements creep in the default installation...
trhtrsh 14y ago
Can I demand, say, that a website doesn't install some virus/spamware/malware, even if it's free?

moystard 14y ago

I guess you don't use Firefox as well, as they "force" you to use Google at first?

meaty 14y ago
Yes I do use Firefox and that's a rather silly assertion if you consider the technical implementation. In the case of Firefox, a default search page for Google is included in the Firefox Chrome as is a default search engine. The default page doesn't call home at all until you enter a search i.e. until you use it. The rest of the browser is functional without using this feature, so you can type "duckduckgo.com" without transmitting data to google. The same is not true for the Unity shopping lens which transmits your searches for local data and applications on your workstation to Canonical and Amazon by default.
- gman99 14y ago
  Firefox: Nothing transmitted to Google until you perform a search. Unity: Nothing transmitted to Amazon until you perform a search Sure, I'm not agreeing with the default out of the box functionality, but other than the fact that user expectation is that a local search does not transmit information to remote servers (same issue as chrome's omnibox for typing URLs) it is exactly the same. But maybe Canonical should make it explicit what the default does (maybe they do, I don't know) Install the OS, Click on gear icon (top right), settings, privacy, turn off online results Point is your specific criticism can be levelled at firefox as well
  - lambda 14y ago
    But in the case of Firefox, you are explicitly trying to do a web search. While in Unity, you are just running your local app launcher. Confusing a private local search for your own files with an online search that sends information to a third party is is a fairly substantial privacy issue, and the fact that Canonical is just blowing it off (by saying "we already have root") is incredibly concerning about their judgement.
  - meaty 14y ago
    Utter crap. Have you actually tested this? i have! If I enter analyze.com in the address bar and stop at anal, nothing happens. Nothing is sent. If i enter analyse in the unity launcher and stop at anal, i get a nasty surprise and permanently get my ip address tagged with anal.
    - gman99 14y ago
      To be fair, I did say this was in Chrome where you get find-as-you-type results. And secondly, your ip address is not logged. The data sent to Amazon is via Canonical and it's anonymised. If you don't trust Canonical, why are you concerned about using a distribution from them? Edit: I'm not saying there is no problem and I'm fine with all of this. Just that I wish better arguments were put forward (I'd personally like the functionality made explicit during install/upgrade)

deleted 14y ago

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