Re:Come on (Score 2)

I am greatly disturbed when companies attempt to record identifying information about me, including IP addresses (which can, with assistance from bullied ISPs, be traced back to the user). I make every effort in all my net-related activities to secure my privacy by dealing only with parties I trust and assuring that those won't improperly reveal who I am to parties whom I don't explicitly give that trust.

While most people aren't so concerned or careful about who knows who they are, the larger issue is that due to these concerns, many companies have begun collecting identifiable information without consent. Misrepresentation of a product's function is wrong and best and criminal at worst.

The information that Q3A transmits is, obviously, harmless. But how hard would it have been for Carmack to come clean with this fact in the beginning? The secrecy is what bothers me, not this particular violation of privacy. If I am given fair warning about what a product or service will tell the world about me, I can evaluate whether I want to use that product and choose to use it or not. I am especially bothered that Carmack, who usually seems to have a clue, wouldn't anticipate the discovery of and negative reaction to this "feature". I, along with most people, fully support his desire to make id's products better by researching end users' hardware. But being underhanded about it with simply foolish.