
Can Canonical count users without uniquely identifying them? - alonswartz
http://theravingrick.blogspot.com/2010/08/can-we-count-users-without-uniquely.html
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macemoneta
Model numbers? Isn't that why UUIDs were created? Unique identifier, and
anonymous:

<https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/UUID>

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btn
"The customer didn't really want to use a unique identifier though, because
though it was anonymous, the customer wanted to _count_ computers, but unique
identifiers are for _tracking_ (following a user over time)."

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macemoneta
That seems to be a misunderstanding of the nature of a UUID. Simply replacing
the model with the UUID provides no tracking in this use case, as it's a
single purpose reference.

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DEinspanjer
I can't figure out what exactly you are proposing here..

If you propose that they generate a new UUID on every ping the OS makes, then
you'd be able to tell how many unique installations are active on any given
day, but you wouldn't know how long they had been active, nor would you know
what model of computer they were, nor would you be able to know how many were
active for a longer time range such as a week or a month.

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macemoneta
Fedora, for example, already does this with UUIDs and the smolt project. A
UUID is generated on installation and used for the 'ping'. The user opts-in at
first boot, and the software runs periodically:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smolt_(Linux)>

The data is aggregated for reporting:

<http://www.smolts.org/>

