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by tiplus 3677 days ago
Why does VSCode need a 'Pricacy Statement' (Help menu) which explains how Microsoft shares personal data? I get that it was written by MS, but why would I want a code editor that calls home? Or better ask does it send user/system data back to MS?

this cfg entry:

// Enable usage data and errors to be sent to Microsoft.

"telemetry.enableTelemetry": true,

2 comments

the privacy statement is generic to the visual studio family of products I guess. they state they collect my name but VScode doesn't know my name.

As long as telemetry is what's being collected, and I can disable it (and fork VScode if not), I'm good with it.

EDIT: Also, other editors phone home as well. IntelliJ certainly does, and I'm pretty sure Sublime as well.

> web pages you visit, and the search terms you enter.

https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/dn948229

it's a bit unclear but in the context of the whole document, it seems like they mean web pages and searches on their website, which is both legit and trivial. What worries me a bit is the fact that it's unclear.