Canonical is a software company best known for creating Ubuntu, an Operating system based on Linux. It is largely funded by South African billionaire Mark Shuttleworth.
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Legal Structure | Private |
| Industry | Computing |
| Also known as | |
| Official website | https://www.canonical.com/ |
Consumer-impact summary
Positives
Upstreaming in the Linux ecosystem
Alongside Red Hat and Google, Canonical makes up a substantial portion of upstream security patches in the Linux ecosystem. They maintain AppArmor,[1] a Linux security system that proactively manages threats, Snap,[2] a Linux appstore with sandbox support, and Livepatch,[3] a system to patch the Linux kernel without needing to reboot.
Incidents
This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Canonical category.
Tracking
Canonical collects user telemetry from Snap,[4] which is shipped by default in Ubuntu.[5]
Previously, Canonical sent local file search queries to their own servers, which were used to recommend ads on Amazon.[6] In 2014, this feature was removed.[7]
In 2018, telemetry tracking for hardware components, software configuration, and crashes were added in an opt-out model.[8]
Ad for Ubuntu Pro when using APT (2022.09 - Present)
In September 2022, Canonical started adding opt-out[9] ads for their Ubuntu Pro service when using APT.[10]
Products
- Ubuntu
See also
References
- ↑ "AppArmor". AppArmor. Retrieved 16 Mar 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "The app store for Linux". Snapcraft. Retrieved 16 Mar 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Livepatch". Livepatch. Retrieved 16 Mar 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Snap Store metrics". Snapcraft. Retrieved 16 Mar 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Installing snap on Ubuntu". Snapcraft. Retrieved 16 Mar 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Stallman, Richard (12 Jul 2012). "Ubuntu Spyware: What to do?". Free Software Foundation. Retrieved 16 Mar 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Hoffman, Chris (29 Oct 2014). "Ubuntu's Unity 8 desktop will remove the Amazon search 'spyware'". PCWorld. Retrieved 16 Mar 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "How to opt-out usage data collection in Ubuntu 18.04 (bionic)?". Super User. 2018-04-06.
- ↑ "updates - How to get rid of Ubuntu Pro advertisement when updating apt?". askubuntu.com. 2022-10-09.
- ↑ Sneddon, Joey (2023-01-26). "Ubuntu's New Terminal 'Ad' is Angering Users". OMG! Ubuntu.