Hi guys,
Is Ubuntu MATE a good OS for privacy considering what we talked about in the other theme. I degoogled my phone, my email and such, using european providers but looking also for a privacy aware laptop system.
thanks
It’s as good as any other Linux distro. But, if you really want guaranteed privacy, you shouldn’t be using the internet and certainly not on a home based device.
That said, you can certainly make things more difficult for those who wish to spy on you and your online activities. The very first and most essential thing you need is a VPN.
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Hello,
IMHO, Most(*) of Linux distribution are the last “bastion/stronghold” to preserve your privacy.
(*) this does not include Android or Google Home like embedded OS based on Linux.
The most difficult part now is your ISP, and Internet.
you have many tools as CryptDNS (to prevent your ISP to spy your DNS queries), VPN or Tor network.
My problem with VPN is that most of them guarantee your privacy on the home page … but when you read their FAQ, data retention politics or agreement many of them keep records, IP, … or even don’t specify anything related.
Kr,
Maybe the wrong thread, but I am curious how you de-googled your phone.
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Hmm, maybe I haven’t explained myself properly: not as much degoogled, as i don’t use a google account for it and use yalp for those 2-3 apps i need (like banking app).
the rest iz fdroid
You can install LineageOS on your phone. That is Android without all google apps and better privacy options. Some people install this OS just for to have the new Android version (e.g. Oreo) and not for privacy reasons.
I would prefer Ubuntu Touch, now developed by UBports.
https://ubports.com/
Then in January 2019 the Librem 5 phone of Purism will be buyable (with PureOS, KDE Plasma mobile and Ubuntu Touch). But it is rather too expensive for me.
https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/
Another non-Google mobile OS would be /e/ whose preinstalled mobile phones will be sold in early 2019.
In conclusion I think that are all interesting projects but in my opinion perhaps they should team up together to build one powerful android alternative.
Maybe this does not suit perfect to the topic, but once written once posted. 
Mickey 
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@uxbal I was curious what OS you are using. I know about Yalp and fdroid which are typically used with Lineage. Are you using these with stock Android?
@Mickey Thanks. I believe Lineage is de-googled only if Gapps is not installed. Is that true? Also, I think you left one OS out which intrigues me, SailFish OS, a Linux distro which Jolla developed for a few select phones and easily ported to many other unsupported phones.
@Josele13 I was really looking forward to Ubuntu Touch, but my understanding that project died. Also, like SailFish, Ubuntu Touch was developed for a few select phones and a few ports were devloped for a few additional phones. I do hope to see one of these Linux OS for cell phones take off.
@jaybo yes, stock android on Samsung A5 as unfortunately, the current issue with Lineage is that on Samsung A5 (2017) it breaks the mobile signal, and thus you can’t perform phonecalls. So that’s on hold.
Since I’m not sing a Google account, how much harm does Google Play Services do?
Thanks
800/5000
Ubuntu Touch continues with its development, developed by UBport, now the system is very stable, they will update now Xenial Xerus, for any questions there are many people helping, they help you to install Ubuntu touch on your phone, there are several phones and tablets chosen to install, over time there will be more phones. they also use telegram to help others,
very nice people,
they want to use desktop apps on the phone, but apps that work with ARM chips,
They also want you to be able to use Android apps, but the development goes slower,
although the important thing is that you have a phone that protects your privacy, you do not have apps with 20 permissions of all kinds, webapp go great,
I use it and I recommend it, I have 2 phones, BQ E4.5 and Nexus 5.
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Sorry what? 
GMail and privacy. I’d prefer K9Mail.
Mickey 
you say because I use gmail, of course like a lot of people, but I use a web-app, with that they do not track you, they track you if you use it with the browser and you always have it open, then you know for sure what you do, I’ve been doing that for a long time my work and I can not change,
effectively k9mail is private
FYI
Google is a data-broker, that’s how they make their money.
Android is a “Google Operating System”, thus it will ex-filtrate data “by design”!
LineageOS and all others based on Android have the same features build in. You can only get around this by using Xposed Framework with Xprivacy and a good firewall.
But buyer beware that if one of those measure fails you will be puking data like any other Android device.
If you want privacy, stop generating data!
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The only way to deal with this issue presently, I think, is to have the following setup:
A plain, old fashioned, non-internet-enabled mobile for telephone calls and texts.
A X86 tablet with a touch-enabled Linux distro installed for mobile internet access
A desktop/laptop with a Linux distro installed for all other computing usage
(glad to find out you where the only “Steve Cook”, i did not want to scroll through a list with 172000 others 
)
Is there a x86 tablet with touch-enable linux distro ? Can you point me to it 
Hi there. There isn;t one easily available, as far as i am aware. But, there are as lot of people who have installed a linux distro on an existing Windows 8 tablet. I am thinking of buying one and having a go
This looks promising. First edition due out in late 2018 I have read
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What differences does Eelo have with Lineage OS and Ubuntu touch, I think they are looking for privacy, these guys have a great job.
Regards…
In short yes.
The applications you use can have a big impact on how you are being tracked and who can see what about you. For example, browser traffic can be tracked by your ISP - even if you are using secure (https) sites. A VPN can help alleviate this, but beware the free ones - they are tracking you and selling the data. When you use a VPN, you are entrusting them with ALL your internet traffic, so they have the capability to track you very closely. TOR is a bit of a mystery to me, but it seems like if it is doing what it says it is doing, it can make you nearly completely anonymous to web servers. Ubuntu and Ubuntu Mate do not track you or collect information that is not specifically opt-in.
Your phone is a tracking device. Period. Google’s business model is to give you free stuff so they can monetize you. You choose whether you want Google or Apple tracking you, and then you give up privacy for sake of convenience. I really hope Librem 5 is a success, and I will buy one if it ships. There is a reason they are building from the ground up with control over hardware, firmware, and OS.
By the way, not a Google hater. I have just accepted that I am being spied on.
If you want to remove all telemetry from Ubuntu, it is described here:
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Install offline or block access on your router to:
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Remove telemetry packages using apt purge:
$ sudo apt purge ubuntu-report popularity-contest apport whoopsie
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