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pharring / EditorGuidelines

A Visual Studio extension that adds vertical column guides to the text editor
MIT License
115 stars 17 forks source link

Turn off / opt-out of telemetry #112

Open deafpolygon opened 1 year ago

deafpolygon commented 1 year ago

I don't see any option where I can turn off or disable the telemetry in this. Should there be one added so that the user can opt-out?

pharring commented 1 year ago

There isn't an option to disable the telemetry.

Should there be one added so that the user can opt-out?

Well, you tell me. Should there be one? And if so, how should it be exposed?

deafpolygon commented 1 year ago

If you're collecting telemetry, you should always give the end-user an opportunity to opt-out. If you can't, then disable it.

pharring commented 1 year ago

OK. How should the opportunity to opt-out be exposed? Perhaps a Tools/Options... page.

adrianiainlam commented 1 year ago

I made a fork with telemetry removed.

deafpolygon commented 1 year ago

Excellent!

sharwell commented 4 months ago

Following this isn't optional. This issue must be fixed. image

pharring commented 4 months ago

This issue must be fixed

Thanks for bringing that up, @sharwell. Can you refer me to documentation or a license agreement?

While I work for Microsoft, the Editor Guidelines extension is published under my own name. It is not part of the "Visual Studio Family of Software". Years ago, an earlier version of Editor Guidelines was included in a Powertools bundle. I don't think that bundle has been updated in a long time; I have no control over it.

sharwell commented 4 months ago

Can you refer me to documentation or a license agreement?

I've asked for context but don't have any. IMO it's a strong indication that a user does not wish to send telemetry. It should be easy to just check Microsoft.VisualStudio.Telemetry.TelemetryService.DefaultSession.IsOptedIn, and disable telemetry when false. An additional separate option would be helpful as well, where telemetry for the extension is only enabled if both IsOptedIn and the separate option are true.

pharring commented 4 months ago

The trouble I have with using the privacy settings dialog is that it refers to a privacy policy that talks about Microsoft's data collection and the way telemetry is used to improve Microsoft's products. Neither the dialog nor the privacy policy makes any mention of 3rd party extensions. I don't want to entangle myself with that for a personal project.

Here's an idea: Make the privacy dialog extensible so extension authors can link to their own privacy policy and have their own opt-in/out radio button.

sharwell commented 4 months ago

Given there is no options page already in place for this extension, it seems easiest to check that value for now. Another option is just blanket disable the telemetry for now, and find a way to add it back in the future with an option. Just make sure it always defaults to disabled if telemetry in VS has been disabled.