I'd like to suggest Linux Mint: It allows you to use guides and software written for Ubuntu but disables all the scummy stuff.
this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
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Hannah Montana Linux
As others said Ubuntu got kinda scummy. I always send people that are new or have decision paralysis here
I like Solus. You can be productive while not being tracked.
Qubes if you're being chased by FBI but I guess that's not the case.
Yes, it's accurate. Although I enjoyed using Ubuntu (iirc started with 5.10 or 6.10) due to it's friendliness to newcomers, Canonical is on the business side of Linux distributions (think Redhat).
Debian (which Ubuntu is derived from), is privacy friendly and leans heavily towards the open source ethos imo.
With that being said there's tons of options out there. Distrowatch is a great place to window shop before grabbing a live .iso :)
Most distros don’t collect any data by default.
Basically any distro not built and maintained by a company will be a thousand times more private than Mac or windows. Arch and Debian are both good in that regard, most distros are derived from those. There is also Fedora which is a community project, but it’s very heavily involved with Red Hat inc who is owned by IBM. I’ve never heard about any privacy issues there, but, it’s worth keeping in mind.
If you want something super secure and locked down in regards to privacy, there is Tails which has a lot of neat tricks and tor built in. Not sure I’d recommend it as a daily driver but it’s got it’s use cases.
I’ve never heard about any privacy issues there, but, it’s worth keeping in mind
You would hear about it, and as someone happy there, it's a recurring nightmare, but an actual credible threat would be worth so many dollars lost to them that there's a low likelihood. Shit, Torvalds runs fedora, still, keep a weather eye open.
Mostly Linux has the virtue of the many eyes on open source protection, but it's far from absolute, as the rise of supply chain exploits demonstrates.
Listen, anything is better than Windows. That being said, Ubuntu is about as close as Linux gets to Windows in data collection and robbing control from the user. It's the only distro I recommend everyone to NOT use.
tbh you'll likely find yourself better using anything else that isn't Ubuntu. Debian is cool if you're okay with your desktop environment being a bit behind (as for apps you can5use flatpaks for the most up to the date, it also is good if you need most app support as it can install .deb) or arch if you want to learn a bit more about how your little penguin lives inside that metal box of yours! Fedora I am not sure as I think they implement or will implement telemetry.
One last thing is that not all telemetry is bad. if you take a look at KDE's initial prompt for telemetry it is anonymous and is used to simply try and make the DE better
Even Debian has popcon as an opt in. I can see why collecting data about hardware and package choices is useful to Ubuntu. I didn't think they collected any personally identifying information.
There are dozens of articles about why Ubuntu has drawn criticism, here is an example: https://abh.ai/blog/why-ubuntu-and-canonical-drew-criticism-many-members-foss-community
I would recommend you read some of them to make up your own mind, and don't rely too much on opinions here. Privacy is a broad term, only you know what is important to you and where you would draw the line.
Privacy or Security? Security would be something like Fedora Atomic. Privacy (and security?) QubesOS , TailsOS But as Linux is FOSS, you can just take any distro and form it as you like.