[dhagz]

I'd argue that if the telemetry is opt-out rather than opt-in it has (just _barely_) crossed the border into spyware. Sure it may not be tracking anything more than usage data, but I'd rather see a pop-up/dialog saying, "we'd like to track X, Y, and Z - we'll be using Q to identify your data. Is that okay?" And make a choice than to have that choice made for me.

[mindslight]

What is with this idea that software has some interactive install process where I would want to be asked questions every time? Blast from the oughts! If you have to ask, the answer is 'no'.

Your software is either trustworthy, part of that being that it doesn't perform surveillance on me, another part being that it installs through well-known automation (apt, nix, etc). Or it will never become part of my trusted computing base (yes, that term is another blast from the past).

If I am forced to use it, it will end up in some isolated VM or throwaway tablet, with the minimum of access required for the functionality I need. I will consider it a second class citizen and generally deprecate it as much as possible (eg for communication apps, work to move the conversation to a different medium).

[dhagz]

Nothing saying it can't be in a config file. Really all I care about is opt-in over opt-out.