Cynicism? I react with annoyance to people who think that:
* Auto-updates to software with a high need for security patches are not important enough to ping a server, which (of course!) exposes your IP.
* Businesses aren't interested in collecting usage metrics for their software for non-nefarious reasons. Collection of metrics is one of the most amazing advances in software design in the last 20 years, after all.
* Businesses shouldn't have a profit motive: Ghostery found a way to both provide a service and make money off of the people who track others. Seems reasonable to me.
Cynicism is misplaced, here. Annoyance at blowing up a non-issue to the front page of HN is appropriate, though.
> important enough to ping a server, which (of course!) exposes your IP.
It's "of course" for you and me, but not for the vast majority if end users. Also, there's no reason this can't be done anonymously, even as a policy from the vendor that IPs are not logged.
> Businesses aren't interested in collecting usage metrics for their software for non-nefarious reasons
Absolutely some businesses have good intentions; also some have bad intentions and some have intentions that they think are non-nefarious but about which their customers disagree. A few thoughts:
* Many of these businesses are secretive about this behavior; if it's all ok and for the good, what are they hiding? Why don't they announce it to every customer when they start using the product?
* The collection of usage metrics goes way beyond what is needed, with many vendors collecting everything they can get their hands on.
* The bad actors damage everyone's reputations; consumers have no way to distinguish good guys from bad. If this was properly regulated, consumers might trust everyone more. The good guys should be pushing for regulation.
> Businesses shouldn't have a profit motive
I don't recall a criticism of profit, but maybe I overlooked it.
It's pointless to talk about what 'many businesses' do; we're having a discussion about some specific businesses. I also fail to see what the kerfuffle is because when I installed these anti-tracking plugins it was made quite clear to me, in plain English, that they would download updates from time to time.
The whole thing has an air of 'locksmiths - do they know too much about how we keep our doors closed?!'
* Auto-updates to software with a high need for security patches are not important enough to ping a server, which (of course!) exposes your IP.
* Businesses aren't interested in collecting usage metrics for their software for non-nefarious reasons. Collection of metrics is one of the most amazing advances in software design in the last 20 years, after all.
* Businesses shouldn't have a profit motive: Ghostery found a way to both provide a service and make money off of the people who track others. Seems reasonable to me.
Cynicism is misplaced, here. Annoyance at blowing up a non-issue to the front page of HN is appropriate, though.