I don't want any program on my computer including the OS to make any network calls whatsoever unless they're directly associated with executing GUI/CLI interactions I have currently undertaken as the user. Any exception should be opt-in. IMHO the entire Overton window of these remote communications is in the wrong place.
But the telemetry settings not working and the actions of the Trae moderators to quash any discussion of the telemetry is extremely concerning. People should be able to make informed decisions about the programs they are using, and the Trae developers don't seem to agree.
To further the analogy, sex may be an industry, but not everyone who participates does so comercially. Some who do so comercially may not want to be filmed.
we don't have to accept it. but people say "it's just how we do it" and suddenly people just accept it.
i really feel like our society is going to collapse soon, if it hasn't already begun to. the amount of total crap that people are put through just so that ads can be more targeted to users. we are creating a hellscape for privacy and freedom just so people click on ads. it is pure and complete insanity, and no one cares.
Because software is a tool. It serves the user and only the user, and no one else. Ideally, a device I own should never act in anyone else's interests.
I was interested in learning Dart until the installer told me Google would be collecting telemetry. For a programming language. I’ve never looked at it again.
As a somewhat paranoid person I find this level of paranoia beyond me. Like do you own a car? Or a phone? A credit card? Walk around in public where there's cameras on every block? I don't agree with it at all but the world we're living it makes it impossible to not be tracked with way more than (usually anonymized) telemetry data.
It's not nihilism. I still ad block, use an RFID wallet, and don't install any apps on my phone, I rarely use google for anything. But at some point when something is so ridiculously useful and the data they're getting doesn't really mean much of anything I have to stop caring. I use Windows 11 (gross) because it lets me play video games with my friends I can't otherwise. I use Uber because it lets me get across town. I use Visual Studio because it helps me code. I use Chatgpt because it helps me with so many things. To take away any one of those because I'm a privacy absolutist seems silly to me. It has the exact same vibe of never leaving your room because you're afraid of all the cameras.
I'd like there to be a push back against these companies because I find their practices disgusting but running linux with only open source software and a fairphone is just an extreme I'm unwilling to entertain because it's just not possible in my (or most people's) world.
In fairness, as others have pointed out, the phone is much more personal than the home computer. Your phone is almost always with you, collecting much more intimate data than your PC can.
I didn't say the phone was more trusted, I said it was more personal.
Your phone almost certainly knows where you are at all times, for example. It may know whether you're walking or sitting. It knows who calls you, who you call, who you message.
The laptop may know some of that, but it doesn't have the same sensors, and doesn't stay with you most times you leave the house.
I think the thing you neglect when having setups like this is that you start to garner interest from law enforcement if they ever come across you. You're trying so hard to cover your tracks that you stand out very clearly in a crowd.
There's a middle ground between living deep in the woods without windows and walking around naked in public.
It seems you are talking about Social Cooling, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24627363. The more people like me exist, the easier it will be for actual activists and journalists to do their work. Privacy and anonymity are crucial for democracy.
"file paths (obfuscated)" -- this is likely enough for them to work out who the user is, if they work on open source software. They get granular timing data and the files the user has edited, which they could match with open source PRs in their analytics pipeline.
I suspect they aren't actually doing that, but the GDPR cares not what you're doing with the data, but what is possible with it, hence why any identifier (even "obfuscated") which could lead back to a user is considered PII.
Honestly, I found this whole thread kind of strange. There’s nothing here beyond what most connected IDEs — or even basic office software — already collect by default.
It feels like the goal was more about grabbing attention than raising a real issue. But sure, toss “ByteDance” and “data” into a headline and suddenly it’s breaking news. I'm just tired of this kind of "Big News"- it's boring.
