You're right - the user should be asked and informed before any data is sent. But the situation is more complex than that.
- For better or worse, most people aren't scared of the Internet, so they don't want a detailed, itemised list of risks and mitigations to allay their fears, they just want to get down to business. How do you ask and inform a user who refuses to answer or read?
- People want to use the web-browser that works best with the sites they visit, and the connectivity they have available. While every person's situation is different, the Pareto principle says an awful lot of people will be in a very similar situation, so any browser vendor willing to accurately measure people's situations and optimize for them would become tremendously more attractive for most people. Refusing to implement telemetry, or leaving it as opt-in, means voluntarily giving up the mass market to less scrupulous browser vendors.
> People want to use the web-browser that works best with the sites they visit, and the connectivity they have available.
Firefox has fought this uphill battle before and they didn't need telemetry to do it. When chrome first came out it had improved the UI and it didn't need telemetry to do it.
Since firefox added telemetry their market share has declined and their UI has got worse, the idea that telemetry improves products needs to die.
- For better or worse, most people aren't scared of the Internet, so they don't want a detailed, itemised list of risks and mitigations to allay their fears, they just want to get down to business. How do you ask and inform a user who refuses to answer or read?
- People want to use the web-browser that works best with the sites they visit, and the connectivity they have available. While every person's situation is different, the Pareto principle says an awful lot of people will be in a very similar situation, so any browser vendor willing to accurately measure people's situations and optimize for them would become tremendously more attractive for most people. Refusing to implement telemetry, or leaving it as opt-in, means voluntarily giving up the mass market to less scrupulous browser vendors.