Linked by Howard Fosdick on Thu 3rd Jan 2013 08:57 UTC
Proprietary software like Windows often includes surveillance code to track user behavior and send this information to vendor servers. Linux has traditionally been immune to such privacy violation. Ubuntu 12.10 now includes code that, by default, collects data on Dash searches. The code integrates Amazon products into search results and can even integrate with Facebook, Twitter, BBC and others as per Ubuntu's Third Party Privacy Policies. This article at the EFF tells how it all works and how to opt out of information sharing, while Richard Stallman himself comments here.
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/16/13 9:29 UTC
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The remark "Proprietary software like Windows often includes surveillance code to track user behavior and send this information to vendor servers." is not correct.
Windows does not track any user behaviour whatsoever unless you elect (*choose*) to participate in the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program.
Only when you activate Windows does the Windows Activation Technology send the following information to the validation server:
•Computer make and model
•Version information for the operating system and software
•Region and language settings
•A unique number assigned to your computer by the tools (Globally Unique Identifier or GUID)
•Product Key (hashed) and Product ID
•BIOS name, revision number, and revision date
•Hard drive volume serial number (hashed)
•Whether the installation was successful if one was performed
•The result of the validation check, including error codes and information about any activation exploits and any related malicious or unauthorized software found or disabled
The above does not at all amount to surveillance code or behaviour.
Please correct the text or substantiate what surveillance is taking place in a default Windows installation, that you know about, but the rest of the world does not.