4 ms·

It's a shame we have to assume the worst. What would be better is for Microsoft to be more transparent about the telemetry and to enable more granular control

It's a shame we have to assume the worst. What would be better is for Microsoft to be more transparent about the telemetry and to enable more granular control. That said, I wouldn't bother checking as I don't really care. I rub shoulders with infosec issues daily, as most IT folk do these days. When I think about the perceived risk of telemetry from VSCode, now and in the future it's a negligible risk that I accept.

jakear 8y ago
They are actually very transparent about the telemetry they collect, and they offer granular control. There is a log of all events sent to MS, and a page in settings dedicated to the different types of telemetry they can be enabled.
- felixgallo 8y ago
  Incorrect. That page has essentially no detail.
- specialist 8y ago
  FWIW, I'm completely comfortable with telemetry, analytics, whatever so long as 1) there's a complete local log and 2) I can opt-out.
- mkl 8y ago
  Where is the log stored? All I can find online are some instructions that seem out of date as they don't refer to the interface I see (or I don't understand them): "You can inspect telemetry events in the Output panel by setting the log level to Trace using Developer: Set Log Level from the Command Palette." [1] The "page" in settings consists of just two options, and the complete descriptions of the types of information they collect are "crash reports" and "usage data and errors". That seems the opposite of transparent and granular. Am I missing something? [1] https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/supporting/FAQ https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/supporting/FAQ
  - naikrovek 8y ago
    Windows has an overarching telemetry collection system and VSCode might use that on Windows. There is an application in the Microsoft store you can install that lets you view all telemetry collected by Microsoft, and the actual data is encrypted. The metadata (which tells you WHAT is being collected) is not. Knowing the people I have worked with in the past, this is to securely prevent modification by users before the data is actually sent. I've worked with lots of people who would modify that data to attempt to get a feature added that they wanted or just to screw with MS. That tool also gives you the option to delete all telemetry sent from that machine in Microsoft's possession.
    - mkl 8y ago
      Thanks. The app is called Diagnostic Data Viewer.
  - naikrovek 8y ago
    The command pallette is what you see when you press CTRL+SHIFT+P, and typing 'set log level' in that dialog will bring up a search result you can click to set the log level' (the level of stuff that gets shown in the Output pane). Setting that to "Trace" will show the telemetry being sent in the Output pane of the interface, amongst a bunch of other stuff, I am sure.

jakear 8y ago

They are actually very transparent about the telemetry they collect, and they offer granular control. There is a log of all events sent to MS, and a page in settings dedicated to the different types of telemetry they can be enabled.

felixgallo 8y ago
Incorrect. That page has essentially no detail.
specialist 8y ago
FWIW, I'm completely comfortable with telemetry, analytics, whatever so long as 1) there's a complete local log and 2) I can opt-out.
mkl 8y ago
Where is the log stored? All I can find online are some instructions that seem out of date as they don't refer to the interface I see (or I don't understand them): "You can inspect telemetry events in the Output panel by setting the log level to Trace using Developer: Set Log Level from the Command Palette." [1] The "page" in settings consists of just two options, and the complete descriptions of the types of information they collect are "crash reports" and "usage data and errors". That seems the opposite of transparent and granular. Am I missing something? [1] https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/supporting/FAQ https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/supporting/FAQ
- naikrovek 8y ago
  Windows has an overarching telemetry collection system and VSCode might use that on Windows. There is an application in the Microsoft store you can install that lets you view all telemetry collected by Microsoft, and the actual data is encrypted. The metadata (which tells you WHAT is being collected) is not. Knowing the people I have worked with in the past, this is to securely prevent modification by users before the data is actually sent. I've worked with lots of people who would modify that data to attempt to get a feature added that they wanted or just to screw with MS. That tool also gives you the option to delete all telemetry sent from that machine in Microsoft's possession.
  - mkl 8y ago
    Thanks. The app is called Diagnostic Data Viewer.
- naikrovek 8y ago
  The command pallette is what you see when you press CTRL+SHIFT+P, and typing 'set log level' in that dialog will bring up a search result you can click to set the log level' (the level of stuff that gets shown in the Output pane). Setting that to "Trace" will show the telemetry being sent in the Output pane of the interface, amongst a bunch of other stuff, I am sure.