Tim Smith wrote:
How come you don't call it spyware when open source projects do this?
Because Open Source projects are not typically motivated by finance, and
therefore do not (and have no reason to) collect, collate and resell
marketing data, for the purpose of spamming people with junk offers.
If I send a bug report to an OSS project, I know for a fact whether or
not the data contains Personally Identifiable Information because, if it
comes down to it, I can see the source and determine that fact for
myself. I have no such luxury using closed source "reporting" software.
This is why, for example, the Australian government was granted access
to the Windows source code, since it is the only way they were prepared
to *trust* that Microsoft was not committing an act of espionage by
sending classified data to America.
Not being an international government, I would just have to cross my
fingers and *hope* that my credit card details were safe, if I was
stupid enough to trust Windows security.
-
K.
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