Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by jonknee 3713 days ago
It seems reasonable to want some analytics and it looks like they did a good job from a privacy standpoint (random IDs that you can even change if you wish). They even allow you to opt-out. There is simply no betrayal here.
2 comments
Esau 3713 days ago
Opt-In by default is wrong, regardless of the intention.
link
jonknee 3713 days ago
It very much depends on the thing you're opting into or out of. For example, a better default for organ donation has saved lots of lives: https://sparq.stanford.edu/solutions/opt-out-policies-increa...
link
Esau 3712 days ago
I can't agree with that, even if the results are good. And for the record, I am an organ donor.
link
chr4 3713 days ago
The point is, opt-out is the problem.
link
jonknee 3713 days ago
Why is that a problem? If you are the type of person that is paranoid about anonymous usage data you will be very well versed in opting out of things because that's pretty much the standard. Homebrew is even notifying users that they are starting analytics and that you can opt-out. Here's what I just got on my terminal:

   ==> Homebrew has enabled anonymous aggregate user behaviour analytics
   Read the analytics documentation (and how to opt-out) here:
     https://git.io/brew-analytics
The vast majority of users want Homebrew to work better and are fine with the developers knowing which packages are the most popular. This is not "betrayal".
link
edgarjcfn 3713 days ago
My thoughts exactly
link