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ubuntu logs everything you type?!

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gold_finger:

--- Quote from: asa on July 06, 2014, 09:44:28 AM ---but now i worry that free open source people need funds somehow and that website i mention made me wonder if closed source is better for personal privacy due to it not being free so third parties are left out.

--- End quote ---

Actually, just the opposite is the case. 

"Closed-source" means that only the company that created the software has access to the source code.  Others can not inspect and audit it to see if anything malicious is included in it.  For instance, if a certain company decides to include backdoor access to the system for the NSA, they can do that (for years!) without anyone being the wiser. 

"Open-source" means the code is out in the open for anyone to look at.  Yes, you and I might not know how to evaluate the source code, but others do.  Many times open-source distros or software programs consist of large chunks of pre-existing open-source code with some modifications added to it.  (LL and many others use Ubuntu as a base.  And Ubuntu is based on Debian.)  During the process of making something new, the existing open-source code is necessarily being tested and inspected.  That very process means fresh new eyes are looking at it and if/when something bad were found it would be known quickly.  That's one reason why fixes to important problems can literally happen within hours and be readily downloadable by all soon after in Linux vs. taking weeks or months to get some critical fix out for Windows.  Nothing is "perfect", but open-source definitely seems to be the better choice in my opinion.

I'm pretty vigilant about privacy-related things myself and take various steps to minimize sweeping collections of personal info wherever possible.  I abandoned Ubuntu myself a couple of years ago for a few reasons, one of them being issues related to that brought up by your link.  However, I do think that much of the concerns related to Ubuntu are overblown and exaggerated to an extent.  (I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt that Ubuntu is selling unfettered access to their users' personally identifiable information.)

WARNING:  I'm veering off into potentially controversial "opinion" territory now.

Unfortunately, in the broader sense, most people are either ignorant of the dangers or simply don't believe that there is a danger in allowing the continual expansion of data collection and aggregation of data from multiple sources into one gigantic, all-encompassing database that knows every little aspect of their lives.  (If they are not affected in a direct, visible way, the danger doesn't exist in their mind.)  Because most "normal" people don't spend their time devising ways to abuse others, they fail to consider that a portion of the population does do that -- those who crave power.  With access and control over such a treasure trove of data in their hands, the potential for abuse is virtually unlimited and too tempting to resist using.  I'd venture to say that is the primary reason why the same incompetents get elected year after year ... for decades!  It's why some "favored few" can get away with literally robbing the entire world with various financial schemes and never have to face any penalties while having their personal fortunes backstopped by public bailouts when their nonsense eventually blows-up.

I could go on for pages and pages, but I'll stop now.  These kinds of issues can get heated and ugly because of varying, strong positions on each side.  This forum really isn't meant for that.

Basically, it boils down to this:

Technological advances are going to happen no matter what.  Much of it brings good changes.  Some of it, not so good.  Each of us individually has to evaluate things as best we can and decide for ourselves what is best.  To me, MONEY is the ultimate enabler of those who abuse power.  I control what I do with my money; you with yours.  Individually, I have no power to change anything.  Collectively, millions of individuals controlling their own pocketbooks CAN!  If enough people individually bleed the snakes of their life's blood (money), they lose their power.  Every purchase one makes is a vote.  So I try to make sure I'm not voting for snakes.


P.s.  My apologies to snakes -- the real ones.  I actually like them and find them to be fascinating creatures.

asa:
wow your actually one of the linux lite creators?  :D

pleasure to meet someone involved in making what i think it the best operating system out. i can't afford new hardware and could not even get my computer online until i found your os, i have more gratitude than you can imagine for your work. i went from having a computer with no sound or internet access to everything working.

you are a god. thanks!

asa:
i am happy that linux lite does not use this spyware, but am also curious if their is anything else someone might know about (not including swap file) that is basically logging every move and sending to third parties or something. i'm not a fan of facebook or google because i want the ability to choose if i'm part of some experiement of if my os is making money off my interest instead of charging me for their hard work.  this being my first and favorite distrobution i want to put my trust into it, and finding a new hobby is not really an option so i have no choice but to trust someone, i like computers too much. ;)

i remember when i was a kid trying redhat but ran into issues when i had a "win modem" and held a grudge against windows ever since. i could not wait to leave them but xp just worked and i learned a lot of tweeks. but now i worry that free open source people need funds somehow and that website i mention made me wonder if closed source is better for personal privacy due to it not being free so third parties are left out. i know thats going in a circle and i understand what you said. but if you or anyone knows of any other logging that may be being used or stored, even the terminal seems to log the last bunch of actions, i am curious where this file is kept if not the swap. it took me a long time to tweek winodws, linux might take even longer so just putting it out there. :)

ps linux lite is currently my favorite operating system i ever used, so wanting to know more about it is not meant as an attack on it, it's a unbeliable operating system and i give much thanks to all the creators.

Jerry:
That site refers to the use of Unity. We don't use Unity, so your concern does not apply to Linux Lite.

The truth is that ANY software, closed or open can contain malicious features. The main difference is that with open source and free software, the code can be audited. If you use closed source software ie. Windows and you have these kind of concerns, you should stop using it yesterday. Most people aren't programmers so they can't audit code. You would have to rely on someone else to do it for you. It all boils down to trust and openness, proprietary software asks you to invest all of your trust into that software - blindly and implicitly, free software allows you the chance to inspect the code before you even run it on your computer.

Who's going to audit an entire operating system? Even if some organisation did undertake that task, it's an infinite task in that by the time they had finished, there would new versions to also audit. If you don't trust any form of software, you should not be using it and should take up another hobby or interest.

asa:
hi thanks for the response i am very curious about "free" software and things like facebook because of spyware and similar issues. this just made me question what distrobutions of linux are to be trusted and i would really hope linux lite falls into this category but it seems to be impossible to know. i really don't want to be some facebook style collection on my main os, it's really what i think many hope they are getting away from when switching away from windows. but now i am questioning this, because we don't know the code. im afraid to run this terminal and guess i will hope what you found is correct and this was not included... this did make me rethink open source and linux for the first time and made me realize i probably assumed too much about it in general... usually things like facebook are free, but are full of catches. the too good to be true theory just seems to fit linux when finding stuff like this out, you know..  :-\

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