Software Telemetry: A Measured Response

Are you worried about software telemetry spying on you? The question is, are you worried about the right thing? How is telemetry actually being collected and what are things to look out for if you value your privacy?
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👋 Outro: Khaim - Neon Lamp
khaimmusic.com
👇 Sauce:
conf.kde.org/en/akademy2017/p...
about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us...
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/win...
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/win...
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/win...
code.visualstudio.com/docs/ge...
github.com/microsoft/vscode/t...
survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/...
www.gnu.org/philosophy/ubuntu...
www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10...
lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubu...
www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbr...
Chapters:
0:00 What is telemetry?
1:25 When if you have no choice
3:45 Check-boxes & Online Services
6:34 The Tarnished Reputation
9:22 What to look out for?
11:33 Outro

[@Trafotin]

I can spell "example" I swear. k thks bye

[@fathermurphy218]

Sensible take. Imagine what the Linux market share would be if actually knew how many people were using it.

[@savantshuia]

I feel like I'm going insane the more I try to escape.

[@yigitorhan7654]

That is what happens when a sane mind tries to adapt to insane environments.

[@rahxephon76]

Sending you my telemetry. Great vid

[@vintprox]

A tiny bit of telemetry for you, Trafotin. 😉 Good talk!

[@zxuiji]

6:01, I take issue with that, I only use geany since no other editor delivers the feature I'm now used to from it

[@Trafotin]

I meant in terms of popularity. It doesn't matter if Notepad.exe is your favorite editor, it's not what most people use.

[@LuealEythernddare]

I do use vs code for the full extension support. Vs codium is a valid option, but I’ve heard some extensions are buggy in codium

[@bippaasama]

I have sent you all my telemetry printed on a roll of dot matrix paper.

[@jahba]

You said there will be more Firefox videos! Firefox videos!

[@stephenanthony5923]

A theory: In this life, a lot of our encounters with authority are adversarial. We're always on guard from authorities that want to wrest some valuables from us, lie to us for an agenda, or just not follow through on promises. Authorities aren't just governments. They can be religions, cultures, family structures, institutions, corporations, experts -- and in this case -- even software developers. Not all authorities are bad, but none of them are perfect. And that's why it's wise to hedge against their eventual moral and or obligatory failings by disallowing their intrusions into your life. So what's my point? Users don't like and don't trust telemetry because of this authoritative and adversarial social contexts through which it is implemented (see tech censorship, attacks on open source, the explosion of "xyz as a service" and so on). Telemetry modules and practices are not without risks to the user, and most companies expect users to simply assume that risk without much transparency, notification or COMPENSATION. Why haven't companies found a way to PAY or incentivise users to assume the risks from technological surveying? Instead of the carrot, sociopathic companies reach for the stick to force, obscure or stealth their telemetry modules and practices into products. These tone-deaf companies don't understand (or don't care) about how to reach the public. They'd rather whip them into a mold they can manage. If they don't have the decency to negotiate with me like a cognisant adult human, why is the onus on me to offer them the benefit of a doubt?

[@user-tj1uz5bn6e]

This is a really solid message, Stephan. I would add to that, the reason of the adversarial nature of a lot of these big authorities is that they get captured by YeUUish people, who worship Satan and have made the 200 level IQ determination that to "be good" is really hard, and it's a lot easier to "be evil" and exert power, control and maintain a monopoly on IQ too. They don't like white people as their IQ at ~ 120 competes with theirs and is going to eventually fight their efforts to enslave everyone, and dumb all down to barely cognizant workers/thralls.

[@lmnts556]

Let's be real tho, no one is paying for windows. Everyone just pirates it so you can basically choose whataver version you like and turn off all telemetry in gpedit. I get that some people are REALLY pro linux and refuse to touch windows but if you work in IT you have to know both and you are just shooting yourself in the foot if you do not learn both systems. I do agree tho, telemetry should be banned.

[@Ghfvhvfg]

Linux telemetry is the best with the exeption of Ubuntu.......

[@Your_Degenerate]

I always feel like somebody's watchin' me And I have no privacy (Oh-oh-oh) I always feel like somebody's watchin' me Tell me, is it just a dream?

[@Aoitori365]

Richard Stallman eats his own toenail clippings

[@Trafotin]

He does not. He sucks his toes, but we have no proof he eats his toenails.

[@Aoitori365]

I left a dislike keep up the vaguely okay work

[@hentailogic3354]

You get a pass for being a man of culture and liking hentai lol. I understand why you value your privacy and use an avatar, as well as withholding your personal beliefs. But in your video "Linux Distros I CAN'T Stand!" you showed your real name, so that's a big privacy leak I think. It's a pretty rare name so can be easily identifiable. On a related note, what do you think of Nobara Linux? You said you hated distros maintained by 1 person or a small crew with few eyes watching the code. Nobara is maintained by ProtonGE creator Glorious Eggroll, who also works on Lutris so he is good, and he has a small but dedicated team on his discord supporting him. Nobara has a lot of great optimizations for gamers and has Da Vinci Resolve configured out of the box. Would be cool if you made a video on that. Or maybe you did, I only discovered your channel today and only saw 2 videos, great stuff. Anyway would be cool to hear your thoughts on Nobara and Linux Gaming in general.

[@Trafotin]

Nobara doesn't support Secure Boot and they now take snapshots of Fedora and hold updates back further. I don't mean ill will on GE, but that's unacceptable for a desktop OS in my mind. You can run Fedora and apply all the tweaks yourself. If you want their special hardware support, I think you'd be better served with something else.