Canonical
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Legal structure | Private company limited by shares |
| Industry | Computer Software |
| Official website | https://www.canonical.com/ |
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.
Upstreaming
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.
Tracking
Canonical is collecting 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 was added in an opt-out model.[8]
Ads
Canonical started adding opt-out[9] ads for their Ubuntu Pro service to apt when updating Ubuntu in September of 2022.[10]
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.