3 ms·

For context, this is the official page explaining what data is collected: https://julialang.org/legal/data/ https://julialang.org/legal/data/ (the link is a bit

by sc11 6y ago

For context, this is the official page explaining what data is collected: https://julialang.org/legal/data/ https://julialang.org/legal/data/ (the link is a bit hard to find between all the other links in the Discourse thread)

open-source-ux 6y ago
The data collection page is well-written and clearly explained. However, I still dislike like the idea of enabling 'anonymous telemetry' by default. The problem of growing a programming language is one shared by many programing languages. Languages like Nim or Crystal have arguably even smaller programming communities than Julia. These other languages have not decided to pursue the option of telemetry to track usage (at least, not yet). There are other ways of measuring the adoption or popularity of a language: libraries, courses, books, tutorials - they are not neccesarily accurate, but they give some insight. Anyway, if this telemetry feature goes ahead, I think the clearest way to do it is as follows: - When installing a package, the user is informed that anonymous data will be sent to Julia's servers. Make it clear this data transmission is optional. - There is a link to the data collection/privacy page - There should be a clear link for users to see all the data from their computer that will be transmitted before it is sent. - Users can accept or decline the transmission of data. - Users can choose to bypass telemetry consent for future packages - Somewhere in the process above, there should be clear instructions (or a link) telling users how they can switch on and off telemetry at anytime. This sounds like a lot. But at least by being clear and upfront, users can make an informed decision. I realise it might seem churlish to complain about data collection when developers use tools and services that track their usage on a daily basis e.g. Visual Code by Microsoft or Google's vast (non-anonymous) services. But why stoop to their level?

by sc11 6y ago

open-source-ux 6y ago

The data collection page is well-written and clearly explained. However, I still dislike like the idea of enabling 'anonymous telemetry' by default. The problem of growing a programming language is one shared by many programing languages. Languages like Nim or Crystal have arguably even smaller programming communities than Julia. These other languages have not decided to pursue the option of telemetry to track usage (at least, not yet). There are other ways of measuring the adoption or popularity of a language: libraries, courses, books, tutorials - they are not neccesarily accurate, but they give some insight. Anyway, if this telemetry feature goes ahead, I think the clearest way to do it is as follows: - When installing a package, the user is informed that anonymous data will be sent to Julia's servers. Make it clear this data transmission is optional. - There is a link to the data collection/privacy page - There should be a clear link for users to see all the data from their computer that will be transmitted before it is sent. - Users can accept or decline the transmission of data. - Users can choose to bypass telemetry consent for future packages - Somewhere in the process above, there should be clear instructions (or a link) telling users how they can switch on and off telemetry at anytime. This sounds like a lot. But at least by being clear and upfront, users can make an informed decision. I realise it might seem churlish to complain about data collection when developers use tools and services that track their usage on a daily basis e.g. Visual Code by Microsoft or Google's vast (non-anonymous) services. But why stoop to their level?