<div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><div><div class="im"><div><br></div></div><div>I am not at all opposed to documenting this further, or allowing users to turn this feature on or off, but the fact we're being told we can't have it on by default is a restriction.</div>
</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Of course it is a restriction - and a *valid* one, at that, because <b>third parties don't have a right to user data without the informed consent of the user.</b> Period. It doesn't matter how trivial you think those data are (though, if they're all that trivial, why collect them in the first place?). It doesn't matter how much you *think* the end user will benefit from your collection of those data. </div>
<div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><div><div><b>We are not imposing anything on users.</b></div></div>
</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Yes, you are. You are imposing on the end user your right to collect data that belong to the end user. It is an imposition, because you are doing so without the informed consent of the user. </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><div><div><br></div><div>Facebook collects far more analytics data on users, every iOS and Android user is constantly sending analytic back to Apple and Google, and even Automattic has their own analytic software built into every <a href="http://WordPress.com" target="_blank">WordPress.com</a> account, and Jetpack. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Who's purposes does this serve? The end users? <a href="http://en.wordpress.com/stats/" target="_blank">http://en.wordpress.com/stats/</a></div><div><br></div><div>Analytic data is analytic data. There are no names, no e-mails, and no user information that isn't already publicly available. Just because that data is now aggregated in a meaningful way doesn't make it dangerous. These are publicly accessible websites, anyone can go count the posts and comments and view the urls.</div>
<div><br></div><div>To me there is pretty much no difference between Google analytics and PressTrends. Honestly, if I could make our PressTrends account data public I would. I have no problem with disclosure because it doesn't disclose any personal information, or limit the functionality of our software. In fact, all it does is gives us data to make our software better.</div>
</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>And while it's ironic that you should bring up Automattic/JetPack (pop quiz: who has pushed them the most vocally and publicly to better disclose the JetPack/QuantServe data collection?), at the end of the day, we're not Automattic. We're not <a href="http://wordpress.com">wordpress.com</a>. We're not Facebook, Google, or Microsoft. What those companies do is utterly irrelevant to the question of <a href="http://wordpress.org">wordpress.org</a>'s policy regarding informed user consent to collection of user data.. </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><div><div class="im"><blockquote type="cite"><div class="gmail_quote"><div><br></div>
<div>Useless to whom: the end user, or the developer? If the service is useful to the end user, then make the usefulness argument to end users. If the service is *not* useful to the end user, then it absolutely should not be enabled by default.</div>
</div></blockquote><div><br></div></div><div>By this same logic nothing should ever be enabled by default then. </div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Hyperbole does not further the discussion. </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><div><div><br></div><div>The data is useful to the end user because it gives us a glimpse at how the end user is using our software so that we can make it better without violating their privacy.</div>
</div></div><div><br></div></div></blockquote><div>Again: the actual or perceived usefulness of the data collection is irrelevant. The issue is the informed consent of the user.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks,</div><div>
<br></div><div>Chip </div></div><br>