Comment 130 for bug 1054776

Quoting #129:
> All of these should come with default settings for maximum privacy when a live disk/
> image boots up, and clear instructions to new users to check these settings and
> set them to their liking.

This is an important point.

Ubuntu needs to adopt a global "Privacy by Default" policy, not only for live media but for new installations of Ubuntu and installation of new packages. In accordance with this policy, every feature -- at least within reason and practicality -- that has a demonstrable privacy impact on the user, needs to: 1) have user-configurable levels of privacy; 2) by default be set to the most private setting; and 3) conspicuously inform the user of the feature's privacy implications. The policy should establish the principle that consent for less-than-private settings must be obtained from the user, and obtained only through deliberate post-installation opt-in actions by the user.

Such a policy would make a strong statement and greatly affirm user trust in Ubuntu on matters of privacy, as well as positively distinguish Ubuntu from the privacy policies of other prominent operating systems (and other GNU/Linux distributions). Without it, actions such as the inclusion of the Amazon shopping lens in the Home lens scope demonstrate no more trustworthiness on the part of Ubuntu than similar opt-out privacy-violating features slipped into Facebook has done for Facebook in recent years.

The existence and global enforcement of such a privacy policy is the only condition under which I would approve of the Amazon search lens' inclusion in the Home lens' scope.