Calling telemetry spyware is also FUD, see about:telemetry.
But that's beside the point, jaquesm said he expected browser vendors to clearly state what information they collect, I think Mozilla does a pretty comprehensive job at that:
And equating all data collection with spyware does NOT help win the battle. We're all on the same side here, but blowing things out of proportions doesn't serve the goal. It makes people give up.
It's fair to disagree with some decisions, and you don't have to opt-in for telemetry, but calling it spyware is unfair. It fair for you to say that you don't think it's necessary for your browser to collect performance metrics, and it's fair for you to not opt-in.
Equating things you dislike or find unnecessary with spyware is very dangerous. It gives other people the idea that browser choice doesn't matter. That privacy is impossible.
Note: we see extremism and exaggeration like this many places (politics included), and we have to be the ones holding each other to be reasonable. Otherwise, the opposition will frame us all as fanatics :)
@"equating all data collection with spyware does NOT help win the battle" ... maybe, maybe, lying to yourself that a corrupt, puppet-party A is better than also corrupt, puppet-party B or that one user-fingerprinting tool is better than another because the first one tells you a nice story of all the insignificant data it collects .. is actaully whats not helping in the "battle"! People like you are the ones that steer all the anger back into choosing between "jack johnson OR john jackson" - to take one popular but to-the-point reference - and vent that anger that could otherwise be used more creatively towards a real solution on pointless battles like the one above!
But that's beside the point, jaquesm said he expected browser vendors to clearly state what information they collect, I think Mozilla does a pretty comprehensive job at that:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/
And equating all data collection with spyware does NOT help win the battle. We're all on the same side here, but blowing things out of proportions doesn't serve the goal. It makes people give up.
It's fair to disagree with some decisions, and you don't have to opt-in for telemetry, but calling it spyware is unfair. It fair for you to say that you don't think it's necessary for your browser to collect performance metrics, and it's fair for you to not opt-in.
Equating things you dislike or find unnecessary with spyware is very dangerous. It gives other people the idea that browser choice doesn't matter. That privacy is impossible.
Note: we see extremism and exaggeration like this many places (politics included), and we have to be the ones holding each other to be reasonable. Otherwise, the opposition will frame us all as fanatics :)