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a proposal to add opt-out telemetry in fedora is being discussed on fedora forums
(discussion.fedoraproject.org)
this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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The problem with opt-in telemetry is that it messes with the scope of the research.
If you want to understand something about most users (and not just the ones that are active enough in the project to participate in opt-in) you need this, otherwise your results only tell the needs of this subset of your userbase and this sometimes can go completely against the needs of the majority of users.
The problem with telemetry isn't the telemetry itself, is how it is used, and the way the proposal is worded makes me very optimistic. They are trying 200% hard to make sure we understand that it will never be used in violation of the users' privacy.
Too bad. That does not make it okay to collect data without consent.
Not ever.
In other words, unbiased telemetry is not possible to do ethically. (Or to say it differently, ethical telemetry necessarily has bias.)
And once again, it isn't "without consent", it just means that the default state of the checkbox is on. Users will still be presented with a confirm option before any data is sent.
Say that to the opentelemetry and Plausible folks, who have been on the vanguard of doing exactly that for years now.
Having the default box being "on" is only for the purpose of hoping people click through without realizing.
There is literally no other argument here. "Consent" is: "Hey do you want this, yes or no?". Not "We are assuming yes unless you explicitly tell us otherwise".