I would think and hope that, but evidence tends to point to the contrary.

A quick search brings up multiple articles including:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/01/nsa-finally-admits-to-spying-on-americans-by-purchasing-sensitive-data/

Guess those EULAS we all agreed to but never read had some sneaky language about what they can do with the data.

If I had to guess, obtaining the data by force may require a court order or legal process.

Buying data that someone else is willingly selling bypasses those steps.

I don’t remember it being particularly difficult, I’m a bit of a linux newb myself, but I’d be lying if I said I remember which steps I took off the top of my head.

My spouse has a laptop from Asus with VERY similar Specs (but an RTX 3050ti instead of a 3060) and so far Linux Mint has been a pretty trouble -free experience with ONE condition:

I set it to use the dedicated nvidia gpu 24/7 as opposed to the integrated AMD gpu. I forgot what exactly was happening but if memory serves it was disrupting something, I think recovering from closing the lid?

After doing that we’ve never had an issue again. They mostly use at their desk plugged in, sp the power usage isn’t much a concern.

Hope this helps!

My debian machines usually only have their uptime interrupted by power outages or the like. They’re not my daily drivers, but very stable and reliable.

I have Linux mint on my “daily driver” (used for work and gaming) desktop and I’m also very pleased with it - most updates can be installed without rebooting and it’s over-all a pretty trouble-free experience!

Hope this helps!