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Collecting command line arguments is a HUGE invasion of privacy. Imagine I ran a command "make.exe my-secret-project-name" or "make.exe process_gdrp_removal_re
by 0x0 8y ago
Collecting command line arguments is a HUGE invasion of privacy.
Imagine I ran a command "make.exe my-secret-project-name" or "make.exe process_gdrp_removal_request SOME_SSN".
And as the linked page admits, they really do collect all command line arguments, not just a white list of valid commands. Perhaps someone accidentally pastes an AWS API Secret into the wrong terminal window and it ended up as "dotnet.exe MY_AWS_SECRET". ("You will notice misspellings, like “bulid”. That’s what the user typed. It’s information").
- philliphaydon 8y agoThey don't collect command line arguments according to the github issue.
- 0x0 8y agoThey do collect at least the first argument, how else do they end up with "bulid"? Accidents happen and someone could paste or tab-complete a confidential thing in that spot...
- dingo_bat 8y agoSo if you push your api key to github by accident is github responsible?
- 0x0 8y agoInvalid comparison, in my humble opinion. Pushing a secret API key to github, even accidentally, does not happen covertly or as an unexpected side effect of some other tool written by github, and you'll soon realize what happens because you'll see your key sitting there. You also have a general idea of what you are playing with when you start using github, whether it's private repos or public repos. Having a local CLI tool submit your secret API key as part of telemetry collecting command line arguments is totally unexpected and invisible for the user, and you won't even see it has happened.
- philliphaydon 8y agoI Guess they whitelist it. If someone types a valid command send the command. If someone types an invalid command then it prob sends something that isn’t descriptive. (Assumptions I’m making)
- opencl 8y agoAccording to this PR they do collect command line arguments. https://github.com/dotnet/cli/pull/2145 https://github.com/dotnet/cli/pull/2145 "My understanding is that this was recently discussed with our privacy team and we concluded that collecting the arguments themselves (hashed or not) is not acceptable per our privacy policies. Not sure whether the code already reflects that, but it's being worked on." Somebody in the thread for the issue said it's "not acceptable per our privacy policies" and "being worked on" two years ago, but did they ever actually stop collecting command line arguments?
- smhg 8y ago> Perhaps someone accidentally pastes an AWS API Secret into the wrong terminal window and it ended up as "dotnet.exe MY_AWS_SECRET". While I'm not defending the practice, I don't see how, when you make a copy-paste mistake into a wrong app, you blame the app for receiving the result of that mistake?
- 0x0 8y agoAny tool that purposefully builds in unnecessary minefields like these deserves to be shamed.
- netheril96 8y ago> you blame the app for receiving the result of that mistake Yes. People all make mistakes. Good tools mitigate mistakes, while bad tools (like this telemetry) exacerbates problems.
- smhg 8y agoSo when you paste your secrets by mistake into your browsers' instant-search box, you blame your browser for sending that data over the network?
- 0x0 8y agoOf course not. The browser performed its primary task, and the consequences are reasonably obvious to the user, who can at least make an informed corrective action. Is the difference not obvious?
- smhg 8y agoI think I should have said: the accidental paste is irrelevant here. It will always be troublesome if you paste secrets in the wrong place (especially if it takes it to the network). When you run make.exe some-program-that-uses-aws YOUR_AWS_SECRET intentionally it is troublesome by itself.
- 8y ago