[fab] Re: Firefox splash page tracker

[seth vidal]

On Fri, 2006-10-06 at 10:28 -0600, Stephen John Smoogen wrote:
> 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."

opt-out is the WRONG way of doing this.

It makes fedora malware.

-sv