# Pkg.jl telemetry should be opt-in

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/pkg-jl-telemetry-should-be-opt-in/42209>\
**Category:** Internals & Design\
**Created:** [June 28, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/pkg-jl-telemetry-should-be-opt-in/42209 "2020-06-28T21:11:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 80

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**Author:** ![ChrisRackauckas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chrisrackauckas/32/77_2.png) [@ChrisRackauckas](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ChrisRackauckas)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2020, 1:16pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/pkg-jl-telemetry-should-be-opt-in/42209/80 "2020-07-02T13:16:34Z")

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> [@johnmyleswhite](#):
>
> I think this is the crux of the issue: you’re already doing that across the Internet since your IP address is part of many (most?) normal HTTP requests. It’s not perfectly uniquely identifiable, but it’s not so far away from being that and it’s being submitted without even the possibility of opt-out in most cases / for most people.
> 
> So I think the core issue this thread should resolve: would it be better for Julia to just do everything via logging IP addresses? That’s what everyone else in OSS is already doing (seemingly without almost any concerns), so perhaps the problem is just that Julia is talking about how to best do things rather than just doing them? That feels quite perverse to me, but it’s my big fear after reading this thread.

This I think captures the issue. @StefanKarpinski and others went out of his way to build a system that captured less information than IP addresses and is very hard to finger print in order to ensure as much privacy as possible, but because they have done something special and so clearly documented it, people are in uproar because everyone knows it exists and it’s different. Meanwhile, all of the other language’s package managers (R, Python, etc.) are just silently collecting IP addresses from their servers, so they know where you house is, but most people don’t realize they know this about you so no one is upset. I think there’s a law for the new age of the internet:

> The more you tell people about potential privacy issues and make explicit what you are doing, the more people will complain about the privacy issues.

That’s not to say that we shouldn’t care about privacy issues, but I think we should internalize the gradation of possible amounts of data collection and understand the personal effects given the amount that’s collected by a given party. Right now, it looks like anyone who explicitly tells the public about what’s being collected, how it’s being collected, why it’s being collected, and how to opt is… going to be punished more? Over time, that reaction will have the opposite effect of what I believe those who are concerned wish to see.

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