Fedora's telemetry is planned to be OPT-OUT
However, we also want to ensure that the data we collect is meaningful, so gnome-initial-setup will default to displaying the toggle as enabled,even though the underlying setting will initially be disabled. (The underlying setting will not actually be enabled until the user finishes the privacy page, to ensure users have the opportunity to disable the setting before any data is uploaded.) This is to ensure the system is opt-out, not opt-in. This is essential because we know that opt-in metrics are not very useful. Few users would opt in, and these users would not be representative of Fedora users as a whole. We are not interested in opt-in metrics.
Essentially they're playing with words to say it's opt in but if you just click Next like most users will do, it'll be enabled. The developer openly admits few users would opt in and complains that it wouldn't be useful.
That's the definition of opt-out, so they're telling the truth :) Opt-out is the worse alternative when it comes to unwanted features, opt-in would have been better.
Opt-out helps you capture the group of users that simply do not care about telemetry.
As someone who recently started developing an open-source GUI application for a few thousand users I cannot stress enough how instrumental telemetry has been in fixing a variety of crashes.
It's still a proposal if you have more to say about opt-in/opt-out specifically they made a new thread to discuss it here
I’m almost certain that is not conform with GDPR in europe to pre-enable checkboxes.
I’m no lawyer but I read it that way and will probably be disappointed.
If it collects user data it is not. If it collects “1 person downloaded an update” it’s perfectly fine
I agree, but whatever they say ... who do I trust? I'm paranoid enough to trust only my own network capture.
If only it was open source. Or if only you could actually do your own network capture. 🤷
That’s not what the GDPR is for though.
I think you mixed up opt out and opt in in the title
Oof.
I did.
I'm happier than ever that I moved to a different distro. I was a Fedora user since they started and was happy to use it for a few years at the job. But seeing what's happening with the whole red hat shit it makes me sad for the people who gave a lot of their time and passion for this.
It's getting harder and harder for the Fedora devs to show they are independent of red hat...
Though I'm curious how does teletry work in a GNU/Linux system? Is there some daemon like 'telemetryd' that watches /var/log or something..?
From https://blogs.gnome.org/wjjt/2023/07/05/endless-oss-privacy-preserving-metrics-system/
Fedora says they intend to deploy endlessOS's metric system
red hat, what are you doing
P R O F I T
Do you know how this will affect existing installations? Is this gnome only or any desktop?
States the gnome-initial-setup. KDE is big on telemetry only being opt-in, so it seems like just the gnome environment. Or at least I hope I'm right...
It won't affect existing installations, definitely won't. You may get a "Welcome Screen" on a new GNOME update that enables it if you just click next.
No idea about KDE, Fedora higher ups don't care about it but KDE does have support for Welcome Screens, they'll likely use that if they can.
Metrics can be very valuable, the people who really care can just uncheck the box as part of the initial installation. I regularly submit crash reports which contain far more personal information. I think this is a good move.
That's lip service to privacy with spyware in reality.
Looks like this statement contradicts with their goal.
How, exactly? They've been saying from the very beginning that they don't need or want personally-identifiable data.
Opt-in = Low value metrics
Opt-out = Better metrics
If I read that right, looks like Fedora is justifying application of opt-out metrics as long as there's little/no PII present in the data collected.