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Canonical Targets Ubuntu Privacy Critic

Posted by Soulskill on from the probably-should-have-thought-that-through-a-bit-more dept.

New submitter bkerensa writes "A member of Canonical's Legal Team recently sent a email to a critic of Ubuntu's privacy settings to insist he stop using the Ubuntu name and logo, even though it falls under 'fair use.' Micah Lee is the CTO of the Freedom of the Press Foundation and maintainer of the HTTPS Everywhere project. When Ubuntu began adding commercial results in its Dash search software, Lee wrote about the privacy concerns and created a site called Fix Ubuntu to show people how to turn it off. Canonical's legal department has now sent him a letter asking him to 'remove [the] Ubuntu word from you[r] domain name and Ubuntu logo from your website.'"

3 of 259 comments (clear)

  1. Hey genius by nctritech · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe you didn't see the letter from the EFF's lawyer to Canonical yet because you didn't RTFA:

    https://micahflee.com/2013/11/canonical-shouldnt-abuse-trademark-law-to-silence-critics-of-its-privacy-decisions/

    You have NO IDEA what you are talking about, specifically in the legal aspect. This is a prime example of fair use.

  2. Re: If you are still using Ubuntu... by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 3, Interesting

    g+ ?

    fuck that! seriously, its why I will NOT care about 'elementary os'.

    if you have to use a google product to interact with the developers, they totally don't 'get it' and are not worth dealing with.

    now, if they switch to some vendor neutral forum (even a website would be better) than I'll reconsider, but their whole 'support' notion is laughable.

    --

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  3. Talking about privacy... Qubes OS by advid.net · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In those "best linux distros" I just discovered Qubes OS which achieves security (and privacy) through strong isolation.

    See what kind of activities can be isolated, in a picture.

    I think they got it right.

    Not very portable: one need to run it on bare metal (along with 4GB minimum), nomads will bring along their laptop, at least (also: secure boot optional).