
Netdata system monitor app embeds spyware - sneak
https://github.com/netdata/netdata/issues/7366
======
aritmo
I admire the patience of the Netdata developers. When you develop opensource
software you unfortunately have to put up with such drama.

Is this telemetry really "spyware"? Or, is it just an attempt to insinuate
that there is malware embedded somehow in the source, just to cause trouble to
the project.

~~~
sneak
Software that transmits information about its user (including their PII[1]) by
misusing that user's computer hardware and resources _without that user 's
consent_ and against their wishes is malware: specifically it is spyware.
Netdata goes a step further and does it _silently_ , without even notifying
the user that it is spying.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware)

People don't like their common, popular software being called that because
it's truly _not a good thing_ , not because their software isn't spyware (as
you can see at the above link).

It's become somewhat popular amongst unethical developers to pretend that this
sort of collection without consent is somehow okay or necessary to their ends
as long as the users don't see it happening; this belief is _not_ shared or
widely held by users. Indeed, when exposed to users, it generates huge
distrust of the manufacturer, and sometimes makers of software will backpedal,
such as GitHub's Atom now offering[2] a consent dialog on startup[3] for user
spying.

[1]: An IP address + timestamp, in practice, usually uniquely identifies a
person, and is thus personally identifying information _in reality_ ,
regardless of whether or not the GDPR classes it as PII for purposes of
regulation or not.

[2]:
[https://github.com/atom/atom/issues/4966](https://github.com/atom/atom/issues/4966)

[3]: it's still nonfunctional, sadly:
[https://github.com/atom/telemetry/issues/33](https://github.com/atom/telemetry/issues/33)

