[theme-reviewers] tracking code in themes

[Chip Bennett]

On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 1:38 PM, Trent Lapinski <trent at cyberchimps.com>wrote:

> Woh.
>
> It is truly a shame you guys have already made the decision to restrict
> PressTrends use from WordPress.org without any discussion, or reason.
>

Nothing is being restricted. You are free to use PressTrends in your WPORG
repository-hosted Theme. We're merely stipulating that you have to
*disclose* to end users that the Theme is using this service, and that you
have to allow end users to *opt-in* to use of this service.

>
> There is absolutely nothing wrong with knowing how many people are using
> your themes, and what version numbers they are using. In fact, I wish
> WordPress.org itself provided this kind of data publicly.
>

I refer you to Free Software
philosophy<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>
 [*emphasis *added]:

The freedom to run the program means the freedom for any kind of person or
organization to use it on any kind of computer system, for any kind of
overall job and purpose, *without being required to communicate about it
with the developer or any other specific entity*. In this freedom, *it is
the user's purpose that matters, not the developer's purpose*; you as a
user are free to run the program for your purposes, and if you distribute
it to someone else, she is then free to run it for her purposes, but *you
are not entitled to impose your purposes on her*.


Simply put: you, as a developer, do not have the right to this information
without the user's informed consent.

>
> There is absolutely no private information that is garnered from
> PressTrends.
>