Fedora Workstation 40 to Include Mechanisms for Telemetry Collection
IFE Moloney from the Fedora (Community Platform Engineering Team) and Michael Catanzaro, developer of Epiphany and Webkitk from Red Hat, have suggested that Fedora Workstation 40 should incorporate mechanisms for the collection of telemetry that accounts for user interests while ensuring confidentiality. The proposal aims to gather information about users’ systems in order to better understand their preferences and consider them in decision-making processes related to distribution development, prioritization, and overall improvement of user experience. The proposal is yet to be evaluated by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCO), which is responsible for the technical aspects of Fedora’s development. It is also subject to potential rejection during the community review.
The proposal suggests enabling telemetry by default for new installations, with an option to disable it before sending any data. For system updates from the previous release, telemetry will be disabled by default. Buttons to disable telemetry will be added to the main settings and the Gnome Control Center configuration. The final activation of telemetry will require the user to review the “Privacy” section.
The telemetry collection will be separated from sending, meaning that the collection will start immediately while sending will only be activated after the user reviews the privacy settings. In the initial telemetry settings, the slider will be activated by default. If the user does not deactivate it, telemetry sending will be enabled when the privacy settings are closed. If the user turns off the slider, the accumulated data will be deleted, and further data collection will be turned off.
If the user declines entering the initial settings, the telemetry slider in the Gnome configurator will not be active by default. Although data collection will continue without explicit activation, it will not be sent anywhere.
The process of telemetry transmission aims to be transparent for auditing, and the collected metrics will be governed by specific rules that dictate the permissible types of data to be collected. The community will have the ability to supervise data collection, ensuring the absence of abuse, maintaining confidentiality, and ensuring compliance with the established rules.