As a hacker news reader you should know that this is extremely simple to disable / uninstall. Ubuntu is ok for a desktop, because you will find a lot of software ready to be installed on Ubuntu without having to dig into details of software packaging / compilation etc. This is especially true for all kinds of media software.
Linus Torvalds shit all over Ubuntu for the feature (and rightly so)... but I don't see the need to boycott the system (as he does) since it is fairly easy to disable.
edit: just wanted to mention that when I first installed ubuntu I forgot to disable the feature, performed some very innocuous searches, and was shown loads of porn results from Amazon. That alone makes the feature completely worthless and frankly dangerous (depending on the environment that you're using ubuntu in).
I ditched Ubuntu when it became clear that their goals did not align with mine. I care about privacy, so I will not support an operating system which leaks personal data by default, on purpose.
Cyanogenmod. I use privacy guard to limit which apps get access to various sensors and data on my phone. I then use a combination of OrWall, Orbot and OpenVPN so I can choose on a per app basis one of three options:
1.) No Internet access (the default)
2.) Route through Tor
3.) Route via VPN to a server at home and out through my broadband connection (I trust my broadband ISP slightly more than my mobile network provider). This protects me on untrusted WiFi networks too.
[edit] I wish I didn't have to do all this, but the smartphone OS market doesn't give me non-leaky OS options in the same way that the Desktop market does.
After falling with the locations' UI trick[1], I've decided to move away from Google's Android.
Luckily Cyanogenmod supports my phone. I will attempt the installation soon. Any piece of advice, or something you would like have known when at my situation?
