[fab] Re: Firefox splash page tracker

[Stephen John Smoogen]

On 10/6/06, seth vidal <skvidal at linux.duke.edu> wrote:
> On Fri, 2006-10-06 at 09:35 -0400, Christopher Blizzard wrote:
> > Mike McGrath wrote:
> > > On 10/4/06, Greg DeKoenigsberg <gdk at redhat.com> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> On Wed, 4 Oct 2006, Robert 'Bob' Jensen wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > I hope you are understanding it correctly because that is how I
> > >> > understand it. I think this is the best idea I have heard so far.
> > >>
> > >> There is a subset of users -- we don't know how large -- who will never
> > >> use yum because either (a) they won't have the bandwidth to use it, or
> > >> (b)
> > >> they won't even understand that they need to use it.
> > >>
> > >> I still think that the Firefox technique will give us a better
> > >> cross-section of data.
> > >>
> > >> Let me think about it.  I need to send a note to the docs folks anyway --
> > >> part apology, part analysis.  I'll cc: this group as well.
> > >>
> > >
> > > Just pointing out that about half of the machines I install FC on
> > > don't have X installed, much less firefox.
> >
> > That's a good reason to put a tool in that does register new servers.
> > Well, maybe register is the wrong word.  That implies a lot of things to
> > me.  But certainly "get counted."  Which is different than "track."
> >
> > I guess it's good to talk about the metrics we're interested in.  That
> > will drive how we build something:
> >
> > 1. Tracking unique desktop users.  Also, how long do they use it for?
> > On the weekends?  On weekdays?  Do they stop after a number of days of
> > use?  One day never to return?  These are very useful statistics in
> > realizing what kind of job we're doing.
> >
>
>
> that's more invasive than I think we should be.
>
> we can count the total number of connections and we can count the
> connections to which distro and on which days.
>
> But we SHOULD NOT track a given ip to figure out what they're doing
> and/or when.
>
> That's inappropriate and I will resist it.
>

It is inappropriate if it is not known by the user. If it is a
voluntary agreement between the user and the Fedora Group that the
user knows what is tracked, how the data is anonymized, how the data
is being used, and how it can be turned off then it is something that
people can trust and not in my view of the world inappropriate.

Example:

Inappropriate: Putting the tracking data into mugshot and installing
it by default into FC7. A person sees a benefit but doesnt know that
they are being tracked.

Appropriate: On first login of a desktop, if the
fedora-help-us-help-you.rpm is installed, then a pop-up comes to the
user and says: we would like to get data from your usage of the
desktop. These are the things that we are tracking, and if you want to
participate click yes. If you want to see what we collected, click on
the blue hat in the corner, if you want to stop collecting, either
remove the RPM or right click on the blue hat and choose "Stop
tracking."






-- 
Stephen J Smoogen. -- CSIRT/Linux System Administrator
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed
in a naughty world. = Shakespeare. "The Merchant of Venice"