hi Emilio,
On Fri, 24 Nov 2023, Emilio Pozuelo Monfort wrote:
I just checked this and tested it on TB 115 and it is completely disabled,
without a way to enable it (which I don't see as a problem). It's config key
toolkit.temetry.enabled in the config editor.
$ dpkg -l |grep thunderbird
ii thunderbird
1:115.4.1-1~deb12u1 amd64 mail/news client with RSS,
chat and integrated spam filter support
(1) Starting with a completely empty .thunderbird directory, and starting up
thunderbird, I get in:
- Settings
- Privacy & Security
- Thunderbird Data Collection and Use
-- Allow Thunderbird to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla
Learn more
This button is *enabled* by default.
I don't know whether or not the button has an effect, but it is set to enabled.
(2) Now going to
- Settings
- General
- Config Editor [after scrolling to very bottom right corner]
[new tab]
toolkit.telemetry.enabled [after correcting the typo above!]
This is set to false and I cannot change it.
I agree that this is not a problem (someone who wants to do telemetry can
recompile).
Can you see if that's also the case for you?
It is - I confirm.
I think upstream will only enable it for nightlies and maybe
alpha/beta releases now, which I think is acceptable for us.
OK, good policy (maybe thanks to the GDPR?).
If disabling toolkit.telemetry.enabled is sufficient to stop
telemetry, then what we have is a different, but related, bug about
unnecessarily giving misleading information to ordinary users, since
(1) makes the misleading statement that one of the two telemetry
options (configurable without the 'config editor') is opt-out, not
opt-in. Even if in reality there is no effect because of (2),
expecting the user to "just trust Debian" despite being told contrary
information is unwise.
The effect of toolkit.telemetry.enabled = false should be to show both
-- Allow Thunderbird to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla
Learn more
-- Allow Thunderbird to send backlogged crash reports on your behalf
Learn more
as disabled and non-configurable. Possibly add a comment along the lines of
"This binary was compiled with telemetry disabled; see [URL] for compiling a
version
allowing telemetry."
Or show nothing at all, at the risk of the user thinking that these options
are hidden somewhere and being frustrated at not being able to find them.
My guess is that this should in principle go upstream to Thunderbird, but
putting in a Debian patch while we're waiting would make sense if it's
straightforward and TB is slow to do a fix.
Cheers
Boud
