It can be. Ubuntu is spyware according to RMS[0].

[0]https://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/ubuntu-spyware-what-to-do

Mmm. Every time I download an ISO image or clone a Git repository, there is a record

So you are talking about the software running on the server.

Of course, it can be, but it's so easy to fix by forking that it doesn't matter, unlike with non-free software. AFAIK Pop!_OS based on Ubuntu is not spyware.

Also, Ubuntu is not free software. Only some parts of it are free.

Just a small caveat, that article was from 2012 (13 years ago). Things may have changed for the better or worse since then.

> Free software is not.

A lot of free software is.

Give me examples not containing proprietary bits.

You are disagreeing about the meaning of the word free.

self built chromium

This is a good example. It demonstrates that today the four freedoms may not be sufficient. Of course if you compile it yourself, you can remove the spying, but with the Google's browser it becomes harder and harder with time.

Related: https://elevenfreedoms.org/freedoms/