Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

You are overreacting, not to mention reaching the wrong conclusions from these NSA reports. The problem isn't measurement, that is a cornerstone of engineering (and of everything else really), the problem is government overreach.

It's almost as insane as that piece in Slate claiming that Hadoop is evil because it enabled large scale data analysis (http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/netflix_facebook_and_the_nsa...). Technology is not the issue.

This newly found aversion to tracking and measurement is a stupid knee-jerk reaction to the news.



> This newly found aversion to tracking and measurement is a stupid knee-jerk reaction to the news.

It's not new at all, and we don't appreciate it.


The problem is opt-out instead of opt-in. If measurement and tracking are so benign, tell people you're doing it and allow them to agree or disagree, on an opt-in basis. Otherwise, it's not benign.


There is still a problem with opt-in in that most people are not cognizant of the risks and so are unable to make an informed choice.


I disagree. Opt-out is the right approach, if you are using someone else's product you should assume you're interactions with it are being measured.

It's beyond quid pro quo, it's how software improves and evolves, and it is to the benefit of everyone: you, other users, vendor.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: