> Bone Baboon <mailto:bone.bab...@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 >
