I was just thinking much the same - these things are a good reason to keep to minimal desktop environments and full control of the system.

My only interaction with "Tracker" has been to figure out how to disable it and get it off the system, as it was doing god-knows what and pegging processors. I can (and do) happily exist without apport.

I know this doesn't make me safe per se, but I do think that in becoming more windows-like and 'integrated' we end up with these unintended consequences.