2012-03-28 - Re: [GRASE-Hotspot] anonymous statistics (was: Are there any Greek users?)

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From: Timothy White <ti***8@gmail.com>
Message Hash: 9f58b64cee237339ab7bddf3905ffae7fbbb9c3ea2b1b55333cce7643691aeb6
Message ID: <CAESLx0KxNkqQzXg9G9kqDSAbnLDBYgdh5UV7BOz9Odweyoa85g@mail.gmail.com>
Reply To: <201203290539.59954.solbu@solbu.net>
UTC Datetime: 2012-03-28 20:48:23 UTC
Raw Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:48:23 +1000

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On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 1:39 PM, Johnny Solbu <so***u@solbu.net> wrote:
> On Wednesday 28 March 2012 23:46, Timothy White wrote:
>> I hope one day to an anonymous statistics
>> plugin/package that can be installed (and request people install it by
>> default) so that we can get some sort of statistics of what languages
>> it's being used in, how many active installs we have and how big the
>> installs we have are.
>
> If it is to be installed by default, you should have some sort of procedure which force the user to actively aprove the activation of this plugin. It should also have a summary of what it is. I have no problem with the default choice beeing to activate it, but it should be an active choice. Meaning, unless the user expressly aproves it, it should not be activated by default even if it is installed.
> As an example, in some distros it is not enouch to install a server package, say OpenSSH or Apache. It has to be manually enabled (using chkconfig, update-rc.d or a GUI frontend), to make sure the user actually want to use it, in case it is installed as a Suggestion or Requirement by other packages.

Interesting points. I was planning to have it as a separate package
and put in the install instructions to install it unless you don't
want to participate in that stats. But I hadn't thought about if being
suggested by another package, which would then install it without the
user realising. In Debian, both OpenSSH and Apache are enabled by
default once the package is installed, but I do know of some packages
where it's the other way round, having to edit a file to enable it.
I'd probably have a debconf prompt at install time asking if you
wanted to participate in stats or not. I have tried to minimise
prompts at install time, purely because I had originally designed the
packages to easily be installed in an unattended install, however I'm
finding that a few more prompts (with sensible defaults for unattended
installs) would help users feel more in control at setup time.


>
> This is a breach of privacy in some circumstances, and can be argued as beeing surveilance and/or spying. When you implement this statistics plugin, you need to have a privacy policy on your website, stating what anonymous data you collect, why, what you do with it once it's collected, and how long you store it before it is erased.

Most certainly. I've been trying to find out what other projects do,
because I know there are some projects out there that do usage stats,
but can't find much details about how or what. I get a feeling they
all roll their own, but I'm hoping I might be able to use something
like Piwik to manage the data rather than a custom solution (although
a custom solution is much more flexible).

Tim

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