Item — HN Reader

I'm seeing lots of "but this is super helpful to improve UI flow, and normally isn't nefarious!"

Well, as long as the app 1. lets me know and 2. lets me choose whether to have this feature on or not, I don't have a problem with an app recording my usage of it in order to improve UI flow or what have you.

The issue here is that 1. sensitive data is being transmitted via automated screenshots and 2. the users are not even being made aware of this fact, let alone being given a choice.

3 comments

> lets me choose whether to have this feature on or not

And that's why UX is optimized for people who don't care about privacy :)

Seems like a useful testing feature that ought only to be allowed on testing versions -- the ones for which there are already different rules & different certificates.

Options aren't good enough, the fact the code is even in there is scary and there's nothing to gurantee your selection is being respected. No telemetry code and open source to prove it is the only kind of software anyone should be installing. I'm starting to think distributing software like this should be akin to wire tapping.

If you run someone's software on your device, you are giving them a huge amount of trust. So many privacy and security concerns stem from people hoping this weren't true.