4 ms·

> From at least three of the mobile apps on iOS, data about the use of the apps goes to a US-American marketing company that specializes in predictive profiling

> From at least three of the mobile apps on iOS, data about the use of the apps goes to a US-American marketing company that specializes in predictive profiling. Can any MS employees jump in and justify how you find this acceptable?

swebs 7y ago
What are you gonna do about it? Switch to Libre Office? Mwuhahahaha
- type0 7y ago
  What are you gonna do? Switch to reddit? Mwuhahahaha
bradford 7y ago
MS employee here (I work with data but not in Office). My opinion: I don't find this acceptable. At the end of the day, sending data to a third party without the customers awareness is a violation of trust, regardless of how narrow in scope that data might be. I'm curious to see how MS responds. There are several unanswered questions that I'd like answered. Specifically: 1. Any disputes about the factual nature of these claims? 2. If not, what is the third party doing with the data?
- cameronbrown 7y ago
  I wish we had more honest opinions like this on HN, from tech workers about their own company's flaws.
bscphil 7y ago
Can you explain how this is different / worse than an app having Google analytics embedded? If that's unacceptable then the same goes for 90% of apps, not just those by Microsoft.
- bscphil 7y ago
  To follow up on this, for anyone who might have seen it, a scan of the Word app for Android indicates that it contains * Google Firebase Analytics * HockeyApp The former I've seen in about 90% of apps I've downloaded from the Google Play Store. The latter claims to be "the best way to collect live crash reports, get feedback from your users, distribute your betas, and analyze your test coverage." Oh, and Microsoft owns it. [1] Neither seems particularly unusual to me. I wonder what has caused this much outrage: * Assumptions about the nature of the "tracking" ("specializes in predictive profiling" leaves a lot to the imagination) * Assuming that other apps aren't doing the same thing * A general expression of anger at all apps that have embedded scripts like these [1] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/bharry/microsoft-acquires-hockeyapp/ https://devblogs.microsoft.com/bharry/microsoft-acquires-hoc...

swebs 7y ago

What are you gonna do about it? Switch to Libre Office? Mwuhahahaha

type0 7y ago
What are you gonna do? Switch to reddit? Mwuhahahaha

bradford 7y ago

MS employee here (I work with data but not in Office). My opinion: I don't find this acceptable. At the end of the day, sending data to a third party without the customers awareness is a violation of trust, regardless of how narrow in scope that data might be. I'm curious to see how MS responds. There are several unanswered questions that I'd like answered. Specifically: 1. Any disputes about the factual nature of these claims? 2. If not, what is the third party doing with the data?

cameronbrown 7y ago
I wish we had more honest opinions like this on HN, from tech workers about their own company's flaws.

bscphil 7y ago

Can you explain how this is different / worse than an app having Google analytics embedded? If that's unacceptable then the same goes for 90% of apps, not just those by Microsoft.

bscphil 7y ago
To follow up on this, for anyone who might have seen it, a scan of the Word app for Android indicates that it contains * Google Firebase Analytics * HockeyApp The former I've seen in about 90% of apps I've downloaded from the Google Play Store. The latter claims to be "the best way to collect live crash reports, get feedback from your users, distribute your betas, and analyze your test coverage." Oh, and Microsoft owns it. [1] Neither seems particularly unusual to me. I wonder what has caused this much outrage: * Assumptions about the nature of the "tracking" ("specializes in predictive profiling" leaves a lot to the imagination) * Assuming that other apps aren't doing the same thing * A general expression of anger at all apps that have embedded scripts like these [1] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/bharry/microsoft-acquires-hockeyapp/ https://devblogs.microsoft.com/bharry/microsoft-acquires-hoc...