Opt-in / Opt-Out? A breakout topic for the F40 Change Request on Privacy-preserving telemetry for Fedora Workstation

[nadb]

@cassidyjames

I think there is also a fifth option that could be considered:

• Explicit choice: this is probably technically an explicit opt-in, but I think it is a more useful presentation. A feature is clearly presented with two options, enable or disable, and the risks/benefits are clearly laid out as part of the choice. The user must actively make a decision, and neither is considered the “default.” It has risks of choice paralysis (“I don’t know which one to choose! What if I make the wrong decision? Can I change my mind later? Maybe I install Ubuntu instead because it just has telemetry checked by default so I don’t have to think about it.”) If the community does not want an explicit opt out, then I think this is the direction I would pursue—I mention this more below when talking about design).

This option has been presented multiple times as a compromise position, and it is one I am fine with. No default choice, forcing an actual choice, at that point I have no objections about the ethics of using telemetry in Fedora. It can’t be skipped and it can’t work on the hopes that the user ignores it so data can be had. It is probably the only reasonable choice.

Thanks for the excellent post by the way.