I've been lurking here for a couple of years, and I see that many people have come to trust using GNU + Linux distributions and TAILS, mistaking their non-Windows design for an assurance of privacy. Though Windows definitely has some privacy concerns if you neglect the system's default settings, and install non-free software, Linux is not any safer the way most of you are using it.
ANY proprietary (non-free) software you install has great potential to contain a backdoor. nVidia graphics drivers, ATI drivers, Flash player, etc. Hell, even hardware backdoors exist now, making it harder and harder for us to express our freedom to liberty. Ubuntu, Arch Linux, Debian, Red Hat, Fedora Gentoo... none of them are approved by the Free Software Foundation, and thus they have astronomical potential to fill your system with backdoors that could end up incriminating you in the future.
So how do you solve this, you may ask? My advice is to only install distributions approved by the Free Software Foundation, and don't install ANY software that is not licensed under the GNU GPL license, meaning the source code can be read, modified, and redistributed freely. If the source can't be audited, you are sacrificing your personal freedoms by supporting their software, and likely your privacy too.
In my opinion, the whole "TAILS" thing is a big hoax, considering it loads up proprietary software onto your system. No one who's created a distro for privacy would include non-free software in their distro, unless they planned on handing your information to the government. The OS claims to be "free software," yet they directly state on their website that they load non-free firmware. They have absolutely no right to claim that they're free when they commit such a violation against user privacy. You could just as easily boot a live USB of one of the above distros and install the necessary software.
You remind me of the time I was reading "Linux for Dummies" dropping distro names and sharing some mundane ass ideas to my HS buddies who either thought I was a wiz or just rolled their eyes listening to me going on and on with my bullshit. I now realize they wanted to say "Shut the fuck up and take your bullshit outta here" but they couldn't bring themselves to say it though it was what everyone was thinking. I find myself in the same predicament now.