[robbedpeter]

It is evil by default. Paying beta testers, or giving them a free, opt-in version with telemetry is the ethical route. Being ridiculously, over the top clear about exactly what you snarf off the end user is the ethical route.

You are not entitled to access my machine, and that shouldn't be casually dismissed with "don't worry, we're not doing anything bad." You're creating potential vulnerabilities, and by implementing identifiable patterns, reducing the security of your users.

You shouldn't spy on people, and when you do, it's wrong. Remotely inspecting people's behavior is spying.

Your software doesn't need to phone home. It doesn't need automatic updates. You don't need to spy on people to develop good software. That's toxic nonsense.