@ragz The difference is in the very design of the OS. Ubuntu Touch is based on Ubuntu, which is a GNU/Linux distribution, so its userbase is more interested in open code and transparency. By contrast, Microsoft and Apple's models are based on profiting off their users, so they hard code the data farming into their programs/products.
Now I didn't bring up Android because... if UT code is open, couldn't someone take it, make it have data harvesting and all that and close source it? They could, and that basically is what Android is: Linux with closed source parts and Google's intrusive presence. So UT's workaround is to basically partition off the closed source controller (which replaces the GNU part of GNU/Linux) and open the rest of the phone.