5 ms·

Telemetry isn't inherently bad or privacy violating.

by agentdrtran 5y ago

nuerow 5y ago
> Telemetry isn't inherently bad or privacy violating. How can you tell?
- leppr 5y ago
  It's open-source software.
  - junon 5y ago
    That means nothing. Go read the audacity threads pertaining to trying to sneak in Google and some Russian analytics clients.
    - Zuider 5y ago
      From the latest Audacity release notes: >A journaling feature has been added for QA purposes. What exactly does that mean? https://github.com/audacity/audacity/releases https://github.com/audacity/audacity/releases
      - junon 5y ago
        That's not what I meant. Search the PRs for the most commented upon PR. It'll invariably be the one about adding Google analytics and telemetry to Audacity.
- dblohm7 5y ago
  In Firefox: point your url bar to about:telemetry It shows you all the data that has been gathered. (Though IIRC it might still show stuff even when you've disabled telemetry -- in that case the data is being aggregated locally but not sent.) Go to https://telemetry.mozilla.org https://telemetry.mozilla.org To look at the data on the server side. There are more sophisticated ways of querying it, but obviously not everybody can just be handed access to run arbitrary analysis code. Probe dictionaries: https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/components/telemetry/Scalars.yaml https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/compone... https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/components/telemetry/Events.yaml https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/compone... https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/components/telemetry/Histograms.json https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/compone...
  - hulitu 5y ago
    You forgot safe browsing.
    - dblohm7 5y ago
      What about it? How you probably think it works in Firefox and how it actually works in Firefox are two different things, by the way: https://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/posts/how-safe-browsing-works-in-firefox/ https://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/posts/how-safe-browsing-works-...
      - hulitu 5y ago
        As soon as i start firefox on windows it connnects to 1e100.net and makes a lot of connection to this domain even when no page is displayed (just the start screen). This is another reason why i'm in the process of switching from Firefox to another browser. A program shall not initiate network connections if not asked to.
  - aabbcc1241 5y ago
    Just checked about:telemetry, it seems most data are about CPU and memory stats, nothing related to browsing history.
    - dblohm7 5y ago
      Mozilla doesn't collect browsing history, period.
joshspankit 5y ago
I suspect that for every scenario you can think of someone will be able to reply with solid logic about how it could be used in a way that’s bad and/or privacy-violating.
stjohnswarts 5y ago
But is though IF it's not up front and center shown to the user. All telemetry can be backtracked to an IP in most cases. That's a bad thing. It's a form of history. It should be a switch that turns ON so that you OPT IN. Not the reverse, nor should it involve having to change a hosts entry.

Telemetry isn't inherently bad or privacy violating.

nuerow 5y ago

> Telemetry isn't inherently bad or privacy violating. How can you tell?

leppr 5y ago
It's open-source software.
- junon 5y ago
  That means nothing. Go read the audacity threads pertaining to trying to sneak in Google and some Russian analytics clients.
  - Zuider 5y ago
    From the latest Audacity release notes: >A journaling feature has been added for QA purposes. What exactly does that mean? https://github.com/audacity/audacity/releases https://github.com/audacity/audacity/releases
    - junon 5y ago
      That's not what I meant. Search the PRs for the most commented upon PR. It'll invariably be the one about adding Google analytics and telemetry to Audacity.
dblohm7 5y ago
In Firefox: point your url bar to about:telemetry It shows you all the data that has been gathered. (Though IIRC it might still show stuff even when you've disabled telemetry -- in that case the data is being aggregated locally but not sent.) Go to https://telemetry.mozilla.org https://telemetry.mozilla.org To look at the data on the server side. There are more sophisticated ways of querying it, but obviously not everybody can just be handed access to run arbitrary analysis code. Probe dictionaries: https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/components/telemetry/Scalars.yaml https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/compone... https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/components/telemetry/Events.yaml https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/compone... https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/components/telemetry/Histograms.json https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/compone...
- hulitu 5y ago
  You forgot safe browsing.
  - dblohm7 5y ago
    What about it? How you probably think it works in Firefox and how it actually works in Firefox are two different things, by the way: https://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/posts/how-safe-browsing-works-in-firefox/ https://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/posts/how-safe-browsing-works-...
    - hulitu 5y ago
      As soon as i start firefox on windows it connnects to 1e100.net and makes a lot of connection to this domain even when no page is displayed (just the start screen). This is another reason why i'm in the process of switching from Firefox to another browser. A program shall not initiate network connections if not asked to.
- aabbcc1241 5y ago
  Just checked about:telemetry, it seems most data are about CPU and memory stats, nothing related to browsing history.
  - dblohm7 5y ago
    Mozilla doesn't collect browsing history, period.

joshspankit 5y ago

I suspect that for every scenario you can think of someone will be able to reply with solid logic about how it could be used in a way that’s bad and/or privacy-violating.

stjohnswarts 5y ago

But is though IF it's not up front and center shown to the user. All telemetry can be backtracked to an IP in most cases. That's a bad thing. It's a form of history. It should be a switch that turns ON so that you OPT IN. Not the reverse, nor should it involve having to change a hosts entry.