RE: [GD-General] Collecting info from players

[Ivan-Assen I. <as...@ha...>]

There are three possible choices in our situation:
the "right way", as suggested by the I-won't-call-you-names guys
who value their privacy, the pragmatic "wrong way" close to my original
idea
of what to do, supported by TomF and Timur, and simply forgetting
about it.

The logistical issues of doing it "the right way" (during installation,
with prompts etc.) are serious: somebody to implement the
extra user interface, then the network part (what if there's no net
during installation?), then the usual localization hell for any text
longer than 2 words, then explaining to N publishers for the
different territories what is that reporting and why isn't it reporting
to THEM... Not to mention that some publishers insist on their
own installers, so we can't actually do this on installation.

All of this, for significantly _reducing_ the utility of the system
(especially if it's turned off by default) doesn't seem like a good deal
to
me - we have a ridiculously tight schedule (hey, who isn't!).

I'm still somewhat wary of "the wrong way" (so not all hope
is lost for my soul, Javier!) - that's why I started this thread in the
first place.

I'm an engineer, and this seems to be turning into a ethics
decision. I'm not comfortable making ethics decisions -
it's not what engineers do beyond basic common sense things,
like not fetching your emails or not formatting the hard disk.
I know how to solve the problem if it's turned into a technical decision
(is it possible to report such information? definitely), a business
decision (do we want this information? definitely), or a legal decision
(is it expressly forbidden by law? possibly).

How do privacy advocats feel about carrying a cellphone in their pocket?
Your cellphone company can determine what brand of phone you use.

I bought tires for my car recently, and at the shop the girl behind the
counter entered my car's model in the order. Would you refuse to provide
that information (even if she could just glance at the car parked
outside and see for herself) ?