[wp-hackers] Proposal: Add a Privacy Option: Anonymise Updates

Travis Snoozy ai2097 at users.sourceforge.net
Wed Sep 26 23:44:15 GMT 2007


On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:30:22 -0700, Matt Mullenweg <m at mullenweg.com>
wrote:

> John Blackbourn wrote:
> > It's giving people
> > the false impression that a) by sending their blog URL to the update
> > server it is somehow infringing their privacy, and b) that by _not_
> > sending it it somehow gives them some form of privacy.
> > 
> > Having this option will mislead users into thinking that by using
> > it, their requests to the update server will be anonymous when in
> > fact, they are not and cannot be.
> 
> That's a very succinct way to put it.
> 
> I'd support a plugin that replaces the URL with some known format 
> because I think that would be a useful metric to track as well. We
> could use the popularity of that format to decide whether it warrants
> a core option.
> 

I've already put in the submission for the "tinfoil hat" plugin; the
name being tongue-in-cheek of course. ;)

URL sent would be configurable, but I'm happy to have it default to a
known string (probably just the root of my domain). I'll get cracking
on some code.


-- 
Travis


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