<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">For the record, PressTrends is not a "tracker" it doesn't track users WordPress usage, or personal information.<div><br></div><div>It simply tells you when someone activates a theme and reports back the version number of the activation and what version of WordPress they are using. That's the meat of it. It does a few other minor things, but the users aren't be "tracked", and we aren't getting live data from the users or any personal information.</div><div><br></div><div>Furthermore, this information is publicly available to begin with. By viewing the resources / source of any WordPress install you can see the stylesheet which contains the version number of the theme. Which means this information is publicly available on all WordPress websites running any WordPress theme.</div><div><br></div><div>Is it wrong to aggregate such information? I do not believe so, and even Otto has stated this is something Automattic has been looking to replicate for <a href="http://WordPress.org">WordPress.org</a> themselves, so the "ethical" argument for PressTrends is entirely invalid. </div><div><br></div><div>If <a href="http://WordPress.org">WordPress.org</a> offered these same features you would all think its the greatest thing since sliced bread, and no one would be raising privacy concerns because there is no private information being made available.</div><div><br></div><div>No one is having their privacy violated, PressTrends simply aggregates useful publicly avaliable analytic data. That's it.</div><div><br></div><div><div><div><br></div><div><img id="ab25b87f-5548-471c-98c4-e0359e9bbb44" height="307" width="292" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:D49EB76B-4277-4878-BC78-18C95543B40D@charter.com"></div><div><br><div apple-content-edited="true">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; 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color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><div>--Trent Lapinski</div><div>=============</div><div>CEO of CyberChimps LLC</div><div><a href="mailto:trent@cyberchimps.com">trent@cyberchimps.com</a></div><div>Mobile (714) 904-4280</div></span></span></div></span></div></span></div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Twitter @trentlapinski</div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><a href="http://CyberChimps.com">http://CyberChimps.com</a></div></span></div></span></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div>
</div>
<br><div><div>On Mar 8, 2012, at 6:35 PM, Emil Uzelac wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><font color="#333333"><font><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">oh and as far as checking if the Theme is on warez or not is completely useless, don't even bother, anyone that sells them commercially will tell you not to waste your time, you report one bad link, 5 more will appear in few hours, than you report that 5, 20 more will come up shortly after that...this is the war we can't win, at least not for right now.<br>
</font></font></font><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 8:30 PM, Emil Uzelac <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:emil@themeid.com">emil@themeid.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><font color="#333333" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Neither one was good to be honest with you. GA tracks more than just how the Theme is being used and that isn't right. For Adobe, Sure if you let them, I personally don't allow anything to go out, not even simple report back to them when something crashes. We all like more details, better statistics for greater improvement, that's why people invented surveys, polls etc... Most of the time this is covered in support forum, if they like your work, they will tell you a) if something goes wrong b) if there's something that they don't like and just another way of communicating with users or customers if we're talking about commercial Themes.</font></div>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div><font color="#333333" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font color="#333333" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Emil</font></div></font></span><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><font color="#333333" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
</font><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 8:19 PM, Daniel Fenn <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:danielx386@gmail.com" target="_blank">danielx386@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
So how is one suppose to check of see if it was downloaded from a werz<br>
site? Adobe does this all the time. Or was it GA that pissed then off?<br>
<div><div><br>
<br>
<br>
On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 9:41 AM, Emil Uzelac <<a href="mailto:emil@themeid.com" target="_blank">emil@themeid.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> Back in late 2009 I contracted for commercial Theme site where they had two<br>
> forms of tracking, one was via Google Analytics and second one hidden to<br>
> check if the Theme was purchased or downloaded from "" sites. In matter of<br>
> months they went from "all star" to "where are the customers" type of thing.<br>
> Long story short users don't like to be tracked one way or another and<br>
> honestly I don't blame them at all. Permission or not "touching things that<br>
> should not be touched" are never good idea.<br>
><br>
> If one wants to track and get the general ideas where the Themes go, simply<br>
> use your very own GA. There are many things you can do with Analytics beyond<br>
> how many visitors one have on monthly basis. Not 100% accurate, but it does<br>
> get close.<br>
><br>
> This is from my marketing perspective. Privacy is issue everywhere nowadays<br>
> and once this leaks to the public, your sales will go down to toilet, please<br>
> believe me on this.<br>
><br>
> Imagine this title on a popular WP News sites "Example Theme Site Now Tracks<br>
> User's Behavior". warez<br>
><br>
> Cheers,<br>
> Emil<br>
><br>
> On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 3:48 PM, Bruce Wampler <<a href="mailto:weavertheme@gmail.com" target="_blank">weavertheme@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> As the author of a popular WordPress theme, I would like to add my strong<br>
>> agreement with the opt-in only policy for trackers such as PressTrends.<br>
>><br>
>> I find Trent Lapinski's arguments for the harmlessness of opt-out tracking<br>
>> self-serving and disingenuous. Anyone with the least bit of understanding of<br>
>> the difference between opt-in and opt-out, and how that affects user<br>
>> privacy, would never argue for allowing any kind of automatic or opt-out<br>
>> tracking of any kind in any repository based WordPress theme. It is simply<br>
>> the wrong thing to do.<br>
>><br>
>> Maybe PressTrends isn't any different in concept or privacy issues than<br>
>> Google's tracking code, or even WP stats, but both of those are opt-in -<br>
>> they don't happen unless the web admin actively adds them.<br>
>><br>
>> Personally, I believe any sort of tracking should require permission from<br>
>> the visitor to the site - but that is a much larger battle.<br>
>><br>
>> Bruce Wampler<br>
>><br>
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><br>
><br>
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