Re: Free software telemetry and the Guix System

[mjbecze@riseup.net]

Also just to note, guix already has software in it with telemetry. Ipfs. Its disable by default though.On May 14, 2021 8:12 PM, Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org> wrote:
>
> Hi, 
>
> Bone Baboon <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? 
>
> Thanks for raising this issue. 
>
>       Regards, 
>         Mark 
>
> -- 
> Disinformation flourishes because many people care deeply about injustice 
> but very few check the facts.  Ask me about <https://stallmansupport.org>. 
>