Newly added trackers into apps

Why has /e/OS decided to ADD trackers?

1 Like

I was under the impression that the use of things like Sentry and Acra are okay given their purpose. Lots of apps use them without being flagged (from F-Droid).
You can have 20 persons suffering from an issue but only one or two might provide needed details and logs.

Is Amaze File Manager’s amaze-issue-automation a result of using such trackers? If so one can see the benefit but at the same time there seems to be no option in the app to turn off telemetry.

So, is the concern about the trackers being added or that they are not opt in/out?
I always prefer to opt out / turn off if possible. Enabling only when needed.
Some folks don’t like anything being sent without permission.

3 Likes

Re: F-Droid
If you see an app in F-Droid without a Tracking AF that has default enabled reporting, please file an issue: Issues · F-Droid / Data · GitLab

Apps can only contain a tracker and lack the Tracking AF if they are strictly opt-in.

This is documented here: Anti-Features | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

Re: /e/OS
It is still yet unclear if these are opt-in or opt-out as I didn’t come across the code for that just yet.
I have no qualms with opt-in crash reporting and basic metrics, although some might.
So my consensus on this is up in the air until then.

Also a reminder that Advanced Privacy still inherits a tracker (without an opt-out afaict) from the proprietary Mapbox library it uses:

2 Likes

Hi,

on my side, I understand that telemetry can be important in order to help to improve the code or debug complex issue.
But I would like to be just the service is hosted by murena on murena server and not on Google Cloud in US as it said on the website of this debugging tool.

I mean straight from the horses mouth (empahsis mine):

We don’t scan your data on your phone or in the cloud, we don’t log or track your GPS location, we don’t collect what you’re doing with your apps. We never will.

Those commits add trackers to:

  • the app you use to install apps, Apps
  • the app you use to block trackers, Advanced Privacy
  • the app you use to open all your other apps, BlissLauncher

the question will be: is it only for debug (and enable by user) or would it be turned on all the time.
And where will be the data…

Here is the Settings side, it appears to be opt-in and has a disclaimer:

I think this is a great approach.

But judging by this potentially outdated/test-only code, it is using the Sentry.io hosted version: Issue 854: Integrate sentry (!261) · Merge requests · e / os / App Lounge · GitLab

2 Likes

This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.