UT is calling "Home"

cliffcoggin · 23 Jul 2020, 13:21

Well said Flohack. It is unfortunate we have evolved into a society which expects everything to be free of cost and instantly available. Nothing in life is free.

herr-b · 23 Jul 2020, 13:46

Now I understand, maybe you are confusing free of charge with free like freedom? If you want to discuss about money, possibly this thread would fit better? https://forums.ubports.com/topic/4650/online-donation-platforms.

So please stick to NTP connections and Connectivity Check.

I add a new question: Is it possible to deactivate the Connectivity Check manually?

flohack · 23 Jul 2020, 14:03

@herr-b No its not possible so far. Its used by mainly the push client to see from time to time if it needs to re-register on the push server. Doing this just so will increase the load there, as it will send many unnecessary request for keep-alive when still all is fine. Also, having a minimal call like this will make it possible for Apps to know if they must show the user "Not connected to the Internet" messages in the future (this part is not yet implemented, Morph Browser will be a candidate for this).

Why is this important? Many public and hotel WiFi Networks inject a "Terms of Service" page where you must agree to their conditions. Paid WiFi wants you to subscribe etc. In other words, just being connected to a WiFi does not mean we are connected to the internet. They do this by redirecting any http request to the WiFi router. Sometimes they even hijack https with a forged certificate. Well thats questionable ofc.

To prevent a bad user experience its common sense these days to do a connectivity check and tell the user early: "Hey you are in a network and DNS might even return IP addresses but because they are not reachable I can´t do x for you". Otherwise you can never know is the server down, not reachable, or the local WiFi just not working etc.

Also a problem with "connectivity checks" is that every App can implement them if they wish. So, even if we block the one from the push client you have no guarantee that you do not leak those requests. God knows what people will put in their apps. You can only try to trace this with a packet sniffer like Wireshark. UBports can and will not review all the Aps in the Openstore for such leaks.

flohack · 23 Jul 2020, 14:04

@herr-b Di you know that also the system-image updater checks for new updates once in a while? And we even send out at which version and which phone model you use, so we can send you a push notification when a new update becomes available. Just saying...

herr-b · 23 Jul 2020, 14:43

Thanks for the clarifications!

OK, the update check seems to connect to system-image.ubports.com, for me this is the real home.

The "problem" with the public Wifi you describe seems to be the same I mentioned above as wlan-hotspots with the corresponding link. During the last years I never tried these connections with my android phone with disabled captive portal check. So possibly this does not work or it requires to navigate to a specific website for login.

The problem with the apps is clear, for that reason I mention only UT is calling "home". To prevent apps from calling trackers I think there is uAdBlock.

dobey · 23 Jul 2020, 15:27

@herr-b said in UT is calling "Home":

@dobey according to the European Court of Justice the IP address is personal data.

And Ubuntu's Privacy Policy is here: https://ubuntu.com/legal/data-privacy

If you think they are violating your privacy with the NTP server, or the connectivity test page, you are welcome to take it up with their legal department.

herr-b · 23 Jul 2020, 18:05

That's the point, I don't want to read Ubuntu's Privacy Policy, I want to reduce Third Party Services as much as possible or use independent services.

Giiba · 23 Jul 2020, 18:33

I'm no expert on the topic but I don't feel you can consider Cannoical a 'third-party' as this OS is pretty fundamentally connected with them.

herr-b · 23 Jul 2020, 18:45

I am also not a lawyer or expert on this, the FSF page also didn't help me ...
Reading the posts I suppose that many UT users also use Ubuntu and are not questioning dependencies to Canonical.

Lakotaubp · 23 Jul 2020, 19:04

@herr-b Independent (of whom and what) services and "Free" software this is wormhole territory if you want to dig or investigate that far I fear.

herr-b · 23 Jul 2020, 19:17

In this thread it is easy, NTP and Connectivity Check independent from "Home" ...

herr-b · 23 Jul 2020, 19:21

I repeat my example from above LibreOffice should be independent from SUN/Oracle.

dobey · 23 Jul 2020, 19:47

If you think there is an issue, and aren't a developer, then simply open an issue in the issue tracker, and let the developers deal with it. Constantly repeating and making nonsense analogies in some attempt to try to force others isn't helping anyone.

There is no "Home" in this respect, and having NTP and a connectivity check hosted at an Ubuntu sub-domain are not threats to your privacy. If you think they are, then block the connections yourself on your own system and be done with it. Make merge proposals to make it more configurable. Do something other than just sitting here repeating the same tired analogy trying to force us into your point of view.