Good news! In Ubuntu 14.10, your privacy should not be violated unless you opt-in to it. You'll still need to run this if you're using Ubuntu 12.10, 13.04, 13.10, or 14.04.

fix ubuntu

How to restore privacy: Copy and paste the following code into a terminal. Press enter, and type your password. Enjoy your privacy.

wget -q -O - https://fixubuntu.com/fixubuntu.sh | bash

What does this do?


#!/bin/bash

GS="/usr/bin/gsettings"
CCUL="com.canonical.Unity.lenses"

# Figure out the version of Ubuntu that you're running
V=`/usr/bin/lsb_release -rs`
# The privacy problems started with 12.10, so earlier versions should do nothing
if awk "BEGIN {exit !($V < 12.10 || $V >= 14.10)}"; then
  echo "Good news! This version of Ubuntu is not known to invade your privacy."
else

  # Check Canonical schema is present. Take first match, ignoring case.
  SCHEMA="`$GS list-schemas | grep -i $CCUL | head -1`"
  if [ -z "$SCHEMA" ]
    then
    printf "Error: could not find Canonical schema %s.\n" "$CCUL" 1>&2
    exit 1
  else
    CCUL="$SCHEMA"
  fi

  # Turn off "Remote Search", so search terms in Dash don't get sent to the internet
  $GS set $CCUL remote-content-search none

  # If you're using earlier than 13.10, uninstall unity-lens-shopping
  if [ $V \< 13.10 ]; then
    sudo apt-get remove -y unity-lens-shopping

  # If you're using a later version, disable remote scopes
  else
    $GS set $CCUL disabled-scopes \
      "['more_suggestions-amazon.scope', 'more_suggestions-u1ms.scope',
      'more_suggestions-populartracks.scope', 'music-musicstore.scope',
      'more_suggestions-ebay.scope', 'more_suggestions-ubuntushop.scope',
      'more_suggestions-skimlinks.scope']"
  fi;

  # Block connections to Ubuntu's ad server, just in case
  if ! grep -q "127.0.0.1 productsearch.ubuntu.com" /etc/hosts; then
    echo -e "\n127.0.0.1 productsearch.ubuntu.com" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts >/dev/null
  fi

  echo "All done. Enjoy your privacy."
fi
        

Why do we need this?

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.

Ubuntu should protect user privacy by default. Since it doesn't, you can use the code to the left to disable the parts of Ubuntu which are invasive to your privacy.

Note: This privacy problem only affects Unity. If you use GNOME (sudo apt-get install gnome-shell) or any other desktop environment, or if you run an Ubuntu derivative like Linux Mint, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, etc., you won't have this problem.

Read more.

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Disclaimer: In case you are either 1) a complete idiot; or 2) a lawyer; or 3) both, please be aware that this site is not affiliated with or approved by Canonical Limited. This site criticizes Canonical for certain privacy-invading features of Ubuntu and teaches users how to fix them. So, obviously, the site is not approved by Canonical. And our use of the trademarked term Ubuntu is plainly descriptive — it helps the public find this site and understand its message.