I was a little bit surprised to read that the Music Lense will actually
send your searches to an online database by default and without asking
any permission beforehand. In earlier versions of Ubuntu, things like
popcon have not been activated by default and you've always been
confident that there are no open ports and no data being transmitted
unless you've asked for it.
I had difficulties believing this to be true, so I tested it. I searched
for an artist of which I have no records, and sure enough, the music
lense told me I could purchase it. I then disconnected from the network
and searched again and this time, I got no advertisement. A very simple
test that anyone can perform, and it indicated to me that the search was
indeed being sent to some online service. Does this apply to all my
searches? What else is being uploaded about me?
I was just about to sniff my network to see for myself when I came to my
senses... If people even get the impression that they are being
monitored by their own system, then Ubuntu has certainly lost.
Technologies like Zeitgeist are great, but they also mean it's more
important than ever that absolutely no information is being transmitted
without asking permission first and that user always knows what is being
sent. The feeling of loosing that confidence was not a good one.
I think the advertisements in the lenses, whether it's for software or
music, needs to be deactivated. Not only does it validate the notion
that Ubuntu is "free for a reason, just like GMail", but it might also
cause users to loose confidence in their own privacy.
It just isn't worth it.
Jo-Erlend Schinstad
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