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Discussion on: Is there a solid fork of .NET Core CLI without data collection?

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tonyhicks20 profile image
Tony Hicks • Edited

Thank you for your very informative reply! Definitely gives food for thought... Those data points don't look too bad at least. For me, MAC address and maybe working folder could be closer to breaking anonymity than is ideal. Hopefully the intentions are truly to just make improvements to the framework. Makes sense to be looking for a fork with telemetry excluded though.

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kspeakman profile image
Kasey Speakman • Edited

For me it is less about the data being collected and more the precedent of taking data from me without my explicit consent. I think the people in charge now are probably using it in good faith, but it sets a bad precedent for future executives in the same role. People come and go. There are strong business incentives to take more data over time, making collection non-optional, etc. For some particularly frightening reading, look up eBay vs Newmark. (eBay as a shareholder of craigslist, sued craigslist) Wherein the judge ruled that it is the responsibility of for-profit corp execs to maximize profit for shareholders, regardless of social good. I wish I were joking. As such, I believe this data collection door will only be opened wider over time as long as money is left on the table.

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Tony Hicks • Edited

You make some good points. I agree with you on the opt-in, this should be asked when it gets installed perhaps. I guess asking for forgiveness rather than permission gets them more data. Which, as we've established, isn't so bad now but who knows what it will become in the future. Really doesn't look great on Microsoft from a public standpoint - if you're suspicious about them because of the past, it's something that would cause you to stay so.

That being said though, I'm far more annoyed about what my phone is sending out to a cloud somewhere than what a small subset of my dev environment is.

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kspeakman profile image
Kasey Speakman • Edited

That being said though, I'm far more annoyed about what my phone is sending out to a cloud somewhere than what a small subset of my dev environment is.

Oh, for sure. I haven't mentioned that here because we don't issue cell phones at work. But the dotnet issue does intersect with "dev" for us.

At home, I am looking into other solutions for cell phones. There is one coming out soon that is supposed to be user-loyal (as opposed to manufacturer-loyal) and linux-based. Librem 5. I'll probably wait until it supports my particular carrier well enough (currently lacks GSM LTE band 12 which supposedly will make my signal bad).

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Tony Hicks

Librium looks very cool! Hopefully it grows into something bigger and doesn't become a fringe case company that ends up going under due to lack of attention. Not even Microsoft, with their resources, could get into the smartphone market. People like their widgets and Apple and Android have a lot.

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Kasey Speakman • Edited

I hope so too. The company has already been selling laptops for a bit now, so it does not seem like they are in danger of failing to launch. However their products will most likely remain niche so long as we (society) accept giving away privacy in exchange for "free" apps. Who knows, they might bring something unforeseen to the market that will make people want to use them. Here's hoping. I plan to give them a try, at least to support the idea.