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Brew commands send data to Google Analytics

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Re: Brew commands send data to Google Analytics

#101

Post by froh42 »

thinkindie wrote: post #41

this blog post is pretty naive, it was well advertised few months ago

“But the plans were on display…” “On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.” “That’s the display department.” “With a flashlight.” “Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.” “So had the stairs.” “But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?” “Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”

Re: Brew commands send data to Google Analytics

#102

Post by blub »

rubber_duck wrote: post #83
tomfluff wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Organ donation?

Also somewhat related to this - recently I've realized that this privacy paranoia is going to slow down medical advances coming out from big data so much. For example your wearables get to collect so much biometric info, if that data can be connected to detecting conditions early it would provide a lot of value down the road. At some point we will have the option to collect data about what you ate, what you did, wher…

It's not paranoia, it's simple understanding of history and human nature.

Re: Brew commands send data to Google Analytics

#103

Post by drwl »

iagooar wrote: post #61
CJefferson wrote: post #7

I knew, and I was prompted. I can understand why this might upset people, but for me I hope it will make brew a better product. I'm sure we all know as developers how annoying it can be to not know the problems users have, and what they are using your software for -- that's why most websites have analytics. I'm hoping to add something similar to software I work on, with an opt-out of course. I believe it will help me…

No, it won't make Homebrew a better product. Homebrew was so good without analytics. Now it's worse, because I cannot trust it anymore.

How does your lack of trust for Homebrew make it worse?

Re: Brew commands send data to Google Analytics

#105

Post by froh42 »

Lazare wrote: post #63

This seems like a somewhat extreme reaction to google analytics.

Im extremely pissed off by the way they snuck the prompt in between several hundred lines of shell output on update. This is NOT being prompted.

I can live with the analytics. I'd might even consider to leave it on IF BEING ASKED PROPERLY.

All previous discussion says "oh you get notified". The point is, you don't get properly notified. And this is, why this is news again over the old discussion on HN.

Re: Brew commands send data to Google Analytics

#107

Post by tomchristie »

froh42 wrote: post #38

As I didn't update brew for a long time I did not have the analytics version. So I upgraded to see what happens. In fact it did NOT prompt me when enabling analytics, but it did display a notice (hidden in several hundred lines of output during brew upgrade): ------------------- + 5a9e19f...7f13b37 master -> origin/master (forced update) * [new tag] 0.1 -> 0.1 HEAD is now at 7f13b37 Merge pull request #1562 from wood…

> He might be a nice target if you want to raise a stink and litigate.

* That Phone in your pocket? "No problem"

* The browser you're using right now? "This is fine"

* Your internet-enabled TV? "All good"

* Open source project collecting usage metrics? "Woah, hold on there buddy"

Get some perspective.

They're completely transparent about which very limited usage metrics they use. You can inspect exactly which metrics are sent. And you can turn off these metrics if you want.

You're not paying anything for the product, and the analytics aren't being used to target you as a consumer, or to pitch advertising at you.

Simply by reading this page on hacker news you've sent more information to a third party than you would using brew.

Re: Brew commands send data to Google Analytics

#108

Post by eveningcoffee »

pvinis wrote: post #19

Yes we know. brew tells you that. And you can disable it. Data is being sent to Google everytime you do almost anything in almost all websites, using the same technology. So what? Some of the times it's to make the product better, or better targeted. Some other times it's just for spying on the users. Let's stop complaining about stuff that someone does and tell you they do it. There are many more that do the same th…

>Data is being sent to Google everytime you do almost anything in almost all websites, using the same technology. So what?

No, it is not so what. This is a major problem with Google instead. The fact that a single company can track majority of the web traffic is a huge risk.

Re: Brew commands send data to Google Analytics

#109

Post by blub »

andrewvijay wrote: post #88

Its looking a bit hyprocitical here to be honest. If you use websites in the web today, you are sending data for sure unless you use a adblocker that blocks analytics as well. Brew collecting data this way is unethical but complaining about these things these days is not going to do any change to be honest. I would be glad if the people who complain about this dont use any websites that collect data without giving an…

Sure, let's not complain. Because being a pushover is the secret to success in life.

All the benefits and rights we have today were gained because our ancestors didn't fight for them and shrug their shoulders.

Re: Brew commands send data to Google Analytics

#110

Post by wfunction »

blub wrote: post #99
pvinis wrote: post #19

Yes we know. brew tells you that. And you can disable it. Data is being sent to Google everytime you do almost anything in almost all websites, using the same technology. So what? Some of the times it's to make the product better, or better targeted. Some other times it's just for spying on the users. Let's stop complaining about stuff that someone does and tell you they do it. There are many more that do the same th…

The US approach to privacy is "let the market sort it out". It has sorted it out by transforming the internet into a giant spying machine sucking up contacts, photos, documents, videos, metadata, what packages you use, when where and how you exercise, everything The EU approach to privacy (eroded by lobbying and lack of control over US companies) is that citizens have a right over their information. They can ask what…

> The EU approach to privacy (eroded by lobyying and lack of control over US companies) is that citizens have a right over their information. They can ask what personal information a company has on them, ask that it be corrected or deleted. This has resulted in companies that are more careful with data.

More like, this has resulted in things like nonsensical "Cookie warnings" that only waste the user's time.

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