Ubuntu is likely to be a huge spyware


tin_foil_hat.gif
 
Quite strange to rank OSX as less of a risk than Ubuntu.

The lenses in unity are by definition spyware. Or, since its not hidden, trawl-ware.

Make a big net, catch data, send it off. The latter part is what makes it a known evil.

Ubuntu is a big net for information that gets sent to amazon. Considering search-terms on your desktop as free bait is an absurd stance to take.
 
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Linux-SWAT said:
https://zsmith.co/Ubuntu.html

I never knew until today that Ubuntu/Canonical CEO was an ugly mole.

This is shocking.
Click to expand...
Ok, wait, where is the actual evidence ? 

I just see an article with claims and nothing to back them up.

I'd be very surprised that the whole time nobody knew anything and could not prove anything - especially since the distribution can be recompiled from source (and you can do a diff check on the binaries).  That should actually be trivial to do. 
 
Still it would be a good idea if there were more people doing steps 1 to 3 of the linked site.
 
_jr_ said:
Still it would be a good idea if there were more people doing steps 1 to 3 of the linked site.
Click to expand...
Which practically makes so sense, in my opinion: If you talk about a "Ubuntu lens" or something with a similar, rather small scope, you may have a chance to find something - which alone would require that everyone that wants to use some random program needs to be able to understand sourcecode.

But even programmers will have a hard time with bigger projects, as they would need to browse hundreds or maybe thousand lines of code, they did not write, and probably in a language that they are familiar with, but do not use on an everyday basis. And even then you still need to actually find something as an "evil" person would surely not put a function named like "andthisiswhereidomyevilstuff" in there. It probably will be hidden deep down in rather innocent looking parts of the code. Step 3 derails the thing completly, as this would also require to have an in depth knowledge about currently critical security vulnerabilities.

Edit: Last sentence was swallowed somehow:

And this would also imply, that this poor soul would not also need to check the programs source itself but also the source of every external function that is used by that program as most programmers won't implement "standard" functions themselfs
 
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I LOLled hard, especially when the guy started listing what steps to take as a countermeasure:

Install Gentoo, build Ubuntu.

like

Buy Ferrari, get the coach, the place next to the toilet, ensure you get the same ride with the funny acting dudes returning from soccer.

Yeah, the typical Ubuntu user is just SO going to start by getting Gentoo up and running...

The whole article (as far as I bothered to read it) was based on the assumption that the person who moved from a military subcontractor (or whatever) to Canonical did it to continue on the same task... How can you assume something like that, I've had way more calls from people starting "I can't take this *hit anymore, got any tips for a new job? How's it going at yours?" than "Duuuuude, I just did some stuff I feel is morally upsetting and it's just such-a-rockin'-feelin', the place you work in wouldn't have any open positions suitable for redoing this?".

Stupid article, IMHonestO
 
OMG did you pay attention to that color table? He claims that OS/X is less likely to have spyware and backdoors than Ubuntu. Yeah right, an Operating system that is almost entirely free software is more likely of having backdoors than a closed-source OS from Apple, which already admitted backdoors in one of their other products.
 
ekianjo said:
I'd be very surprised that the whole time nobody knew anything and could not prove anything - especially since the distribution can be recompiled from source (and you can do a diff check on the binaries).  That should actually be trivial to do. 
Click to expand...
That'll be why it's taken Debian over 6 months so far to get to about 80% matching packages.  Diffing binaries is surprisingly often tripped up for apparently esoteric reasons - on top of timestamps, path changes, compiler upgrades and other expected differences.

Of course, the article is complete tosh though.  Its first reference disproves the whole thing (Ubuntu's current CEO had worked for the previous one for years before inside Canonical, which is why she got the job).
 
:D The funny thing is, that this website is made by an iOS developer :D  

When you own a iPhone, Apple even knows when you take a crap... 

Ah but it made me laugh, that is something quite remarkable from something that is related to Apple...
 
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