General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

Console Do Not Track

CommunityNews

CommunityNews

Console Do Not Track

A proposed unified standard for opting out of telemetry for TUI/console apps.

Gatsby has GATSBY_TELEMETRY_DISABLED. Homebrew has HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS. Syncthing has STNOUPGRADE, a config file setting for disabling crash reporting, and a GUI prompt for usage reporting. Google Cloud SDK CLI tools has gcloud config set disable_usage_reporting true. .NET Core has DOTNET_CLI_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT. Netlify’s CLI has netlify --telemetry-disable. The AWS Serverless Application Model CLI has SAM_CLI_TELEMETRY=0. The Microsoft Azure CLI has AZURE_CORE_COLLECT_TELEMETRY=0. You get the idea.

This is a proposal for a single, standard environment variable that plainly and unambiguously expresses LACK OF CONSENT by a user of that software to any of the following:

  • ad tracking
  • usage reporting, anonymous or not
  • automatic update phone-home
  • crash reporting
  • non-essential-to-functionality requests of any kind to the creator of the software or other tracking services

We just want local software, and by providing it to us you are not entitled to our usage, our crashes, or our IP addresses.

Read in full here:

https://consoledonottrack.com/

This thread was posted by one of our members via one of our news source trackers.

8 comments
17 1131 8

Most Liked

AstonJ

AstonJ

This really should be added to GDPR laws - where it is off by default and any software or tool has to ask specifically if they can track in any shape or form.

Anyway, for those wanting the homebrew command:

export HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS=1
2
Post #3
dimitarvp

dimitarvp

Have we learned nothing from history?

DNT ended up being used as an additional vector for tracking! :grin: Because that’s one more header that your browser sends so it automatically becomes one more tracking data point.

Opt-out mechanics for personal info leaks will NEVER work. If you don’t trust a program, run it from inside a container where you have strictly approved network connections to the minimum amount of network hosts that the program needs in order to be able to do its job.

2
Post #4
dimitarvp

dimitarvp

Firefox integrated Pocket inside of it despite its community kicking and screaming (and Pocket having very sketchy privacy agreement) so truthfully, Mozilla have lost my vote of confidence a while ago.

Plus their main source of income – and I mean by a huge margin – is Google.

How privacy-friendly are they, like really how much?

2
Post #6

Where Next?

View thread on forum
Home General Dev>Ethics & Privacy
17 1131 8
Last post

Popular General Dev topics Top

First poster: bot
General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

Google data case to be heard in Supreme Court
A landmark case alleging Google illegally tracked millions of iPhone users is set for the Supreme Court. The case will not be about the ...
bbc.co.uk
#privacy#google#ethics
0 983 0
New
CommunityNews
General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

After a week at my mom’s house I'm getting ads for her toothpaste brand
twitter.com
3 1167 1
New
First poster: OvermindDL1
General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

Drones may have attacked humans fully autonomously for the first time
Arnold Schwarzenegger could’ve seen this one coming. After a United Nations commission to block killer robots was shut down in 2018, a n...
nypost.com
#drones
6 1747 3
New
CommunityNews
General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

English medical records are about to be given away. As GPs, we’re fighting back
Your medical records are about to be given away. As GPs, we’re fighting back | Ameen Kamlana. GPs in England have been told to hand over...
theguardian.com
6 934 2
New
First poster: bot
General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

It’s time to ditch Chrome
Despite a poor reputation for privacy, Google’s Chrome browser continues to dominate. The web browser has around 65 per cent market share...
wired.co.uk
#google#chrome
2 991 0
New
First poster: davearonson
General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax
ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little...
propublica.org
9 996 2
New
First poster: bot
General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

DuckDuckGo’s Quest to Prove Online Privacy Is Possible
The company best known for its search engine is launching a new set of tools aimed at creating an “easy button” for protecting your data ...
wired.com
/go#privacy#duckduckgo
0 1308 0
New
First poster: bot
General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

Online Safety Bill 'catastrophic for free speech'
The draft Online Safety Bill harms free speech and hands policing the internet to Silicon Valley, a new campaign claims. The “Legal to S...
bbc.co.uk
1 737 0
New
First poster: andrea
General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

Hospitals are selling treasure troves of medical data – what could go wrong?
Healthcare organizations and hospitals in the United States all sit on treasure troves: a stockpile of patient health data stored as elec...
theverge.com
5 1143 2
New
First poster: bot
General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

UK wants to reform Official Secrets law by pretending journalism doesn't exist
Over at the Guardian there is an important article – which is also worth reading just for its byline A rare sighting in the wild of Du...
davidallengreen.com
0 907 0
New

Other popular topics Top

Devtalk
General Dev>Dev Chat

HELLO WORLD (Introductions thread!)
Hello Devtalk World! Please let us know a little about who you are and where you’re from :nerd_face:
#community
484 8259 119
New
Devtalk
General Dev>Dev Chat

What dev-related stuff have you been up to?
Reading something? Working on something? Planning something? Changing jobs even!? If you’re up for sharing, please let us know what you’...
#community
1063 24245 395
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Backend>Learning Resources

Programming Machine Learning
Machine learning can be intimidating, with its reliance on math and algorithms that most programmers don't encounter in their regular wor...
pragprog.com
#pragprog#ai/python#published-book/book-programming-machine-learning#math#algorithms
6 5350 3
New
Exadra37
Linux>Questions

What is the most minimalist Linux server distro?
I am asking for any distro that only has the bare-bones to be able to get a shell in the server and then just install the packages as we ...
#linux#servers
66 25846 24
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Backend>Learning Resources

Programming Ruby 3.2 (5th Edition)
Programming Ruby is the most complete book on Ruby, covering both the language itself and the standard library as well as commonly used t...
twitter.com
#pragprog/ruby/rails#published-book/book-programming-ruby-3-2-5th-edition
28 8550 13
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Backend>Learning Resources

Machine Learning in Elixir
Leverage Elixir and the Nx ecosystem to build intelligent applications that solve real-world problems in computer vision, natural languag...
pragprog.com
#pragprog/elixir#published-book#machine-learning#nx/book-machine-learning-in-elixir
18 4615 7
New
CommunityNews
General Dev>In The News

X can’t stop spread of explicit, fake AI Taylor Swift images
Will Swifties’ war on AI fakes spark a deepfake porn reckoning?
arstechnica.com
/swift
0 8379 0
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Backend>Learning Resources

Server-Driven Web Apps with htmx
Build modern server-driven web applications using htmx. Whatever programming language you use, you’ll write less (and cleaner) code. ...
pragprog.com
#pragprog#web-development#published-book/book-server-driven-web-apps-with-htmx
6 5257 3
New
AstonJ
AI>Chat

How to: Run DeepSeek on Mac, Windows, and Linux!
This is a very quick guide, you just need to: Download LM Studio: https://lmstudio.ai/ Click on search Type DeepSeek, then select the o...
#macs/deepseek#guides#lm-studio
14 9328 10
New
xiji2646-netizen
AI>Chat

Claude Code's entire source just leaked (512K lines) - anyone else digging through it?
Woke up to this today: Claude Code’s complete source code exposed via npm source map. Not a snippet. All 512,000 lines. 1,900 TypeScript ...
#claude
6 8359 5
New
Back to top

Sponsor Spotlight

coders51

We build reliable cloud platforms for business-critical systems.

General Dev>Ethics & Privacy

General Dev Ethics & Privacy ❯

Latest on Devtalk

Devtalk ❯

We ❤️ helpful members!

We reward our most helpful members via our MOTM scheme - by giving away a whopping 25 books per year!

Member of the Month

Devtalk Sponsors

Pragmatic Bookshelf

Practical resources that improve the lives of professional developers.

Erlang Solutions

We build trusted fault-tolerant systems that scale to billions of users.

Honeybadger

Real-time error tracking, performance insights, and observability for devs.

EEF

Supporting innovation across the BEAM ecosystem.

coders51

We build reliable cloud platforms for business-critical systems.

Manning Publications

Develop your skills with books, videos, and courses.

AppSignal

Catch errors, track performance, monitor hosts and more.

WyeWorks

Enabling companies to succeed by building software people love.

Pragmatic Studio

Courses that move you from confusion to "Aha, now I get it!"

Linux New Media

Publishing Linux Magazine, ADMIN, and MakerSpace for 25+ years.

View all our sponsors ❯

Categories:

Sub Categories:

Popular Portals

Devtalk Sponsors

Pragmatic Bookshelf

Practical resources that improve the lives of professional developers.

Erlang Solutions

We build trusted fault-tolerant systems that scale to billions of users.

Honeybadger

Real-time error tracking, performance insights, and observability for devs.

EEF

Supporting innovation across the BEAM ecosystem.

coders51

We build reliable cloud platforms for business-critical systems.

Manning Publications

Develop your skills with books, videos, and courses.

AppSignal

Catch errors, track performance, monitor hosts and more.

WyeWorks

Enabling companies to succeed by building software people love.

Pragmatic Studio

Courses that move you from confusion to "Aha, now I get it!"

Linux New Media

Publishing Linux Magazine, ADMIN, and MakerSpace for 25+ years.

View all our sponsors ❯

We're in Beta

About us Mission Statement See our Roadmap