Ubuntu is fine to a point but they also did their share of weird things, like sending your local search queries to Amazon. You were looking for a file and you ended up with an advertisement for a dishwasher. Luckily you could opt out, but an opt-in would have been better in the first place. I use Arch linux, making me the only one reponsible for the services on this computer. Granted, it's not for everyone and you have to be an expert to setup Arch but at least it is safe. But I think (X/K)Ubuntu of even better it's offsping Linux Mint is a good alternative for less experienced people who want to have a good, non-intrusive OS which is not involved with the NSA (no virusses is a plus, too).