RE: Free software telemetry and the Guix System

["Cook, Malcolm" <MEC@stowers.org>]

 
> Bone Baboon <mailto:bone.baboon@disroot.org> writes:
> > What types of telemetry in free software programs are compatible with
> > the Guix System?
> 
> The relevant text in the GNU FSDG is here:
> <https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html#no-malware>
> 
> "No Malware
> 
> The distro must contain no DRM, no back doors, and no spyware."
> 
> Of course, this depends on our understanding of what it means to be
> e"spyware". There might be edge cases where this is not clear, but I
> hope we can all agree that _any_ kind of telemetry *must* be disabled by
> default.
> 
> > This is a general question but Audacity is a current example of a free
> > software program that is in the process of introducing telemetry to some
> > degree. It does not look like Audacity has implemented telemetry yet.
> > Here are two links that provide further information.
> >
> > https://github.com/audacity/audacity/pull/835
> 
> The opening message of that pull request states:
> 
> "1. Telemetry is strictly optional and disabled by default. No data
> is shared unless you choose to opt-in and enable telemetry.
> 
> 2. Telemetry only works in the builds made by GitHub CI from the
> official repo (the telemetry URLs are only defined there).
> 
> 3. If you are compiling Audacity from source, we will provide a CMake
> option to enable the telemetry code. This option will be turned
> off by default."
> 
> and:
> 
> "Just to reiterate, telemetry is completely optional and disabled by
> default. We will try to make it as clear as possible exactly what
> data is collected if the user chooses to opt-in and enable
> telemetry. We will consider adding the fine-grained controls that
> some of you have asked for."
> 
> If these claims are true, then I think this is quite satisfactory for
> our purposes. I wouldn't even object to enabling the telemetry code via
> the CMake build-time option, as long as it's "opt-in", i.e. that each
> user must explicitly enable it, and only after being made aware of the
> consequences of doing so.
> 
> What do you think?

My 2 cents:  I think the Audacity model is exemplary and your interpretation is spot on.  I personally want the option of enabling such telemetry, as it may well serve my needs and may also give the developer valuable usage and/or crash info which is the least I can provide in return for such a great FOSS app as Audacity.

> 
> Thanks for raising this issue.
> 
> Regards,
> Mark
>