Canonical, the maker of Ubuntu, has been fending off criticism from privacy advocates because the desktop search tool in recent versions of the operating system also searches the Internet. That means if you're searching your desktop for a file or application, you might also see results from Amazon or other websites.

 

One person who dislikes Canonical's search tool is Micah Lee, a technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who maintains the HTTPS Everywhere project and is CTO of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Lee set up a website called "Fix Ubuntu," which provides instructions for disabling the Internet search tool.

 

"If you're an Ubuntu user and you're using the default settings, each time you start typing in Dash (to open an application or search for a file on your computer), your search terms get sent to a variety of third parties, some of which advertise to you," the website says.

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Reading the news about this, Canonical/Ubuntu seem very hypocritical for doing this. They're fine with OMGUbuntu and similar postiive sites but they want to get rid of one that they see as "bad press". If they want to go after soemone for a "trademark violation" they can't play favorites and pick and choose.

Apparently, they blame it om some new recruit who recently joined the company.

CEO Mark Shuttleworth have apologized for it.

 

But fact is, they did abuse trademark law, and it makes you wonder what kind of people they hire.

 

Canonical used to be a really cool company, but lately they're getting less and less cool.

 

Also, I don't trust Mark Shuttleworth, he will say whatever he needs to say.

When I run Linux I've going to avoid anything Canonical touches. I went with Ubuntu back when Steam for Linux was beta since they recommended it. If I format and try Linux again I need a CAT5 cable for sure.