> It's literally just how many people use specific features in the code they're writing; they're not watching what you type, they're not uploading a log of window titles like early blizzard anticheat software[0].
The problem is that, if it's not that now, it will, or at least might, be that eventually. It's a lot easier to make sure that an app isn't phoning home at all, than that it's phoning home with only approved information.
For example, it's a huge problem with browser extensions that, even if they start off well designed to respect a user's privacy and to gather information only in ways that are essential to their function, and that even if the original developer remains true to that mission, still if the extension becomes popular the developer will be prey to a lot of pressure from bad actors who want to buy the rights to the extension precisely so that they can expand the data-gathering into the realm that you implicitly acknowledge is unacceptable.
The problem is that, if it's not that now, it will, or at least might, be that eventually. It's a lot easier to make sure that an app isn't phoning home at all, than that it's phoning home with only approved information.
For example, it's a huge problem with browser extensions that, even if they start off well designed to respect a user's privacy and to gather information only in ways that are essential to their function, and that even if the original developer remains true to that mission, still if the extension becomes popular the developer will be prey to a lot of pressure from bad actors who want to buy the rights to the extension precisely so that they can expand the data-gathering into the realm that you implicitly acknowledge is unacceptable.