RE: MadCap feedback privacy issue - ignore if you're not interested

Subject: RE: MadCap feedback privacy issue - ignore if you're not interested
From: "Sharon Burton" <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com>
To: "'Robert Lauriston'" <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>, "'Mike Hamilton'" <mhamilton -at- madcapsoftware -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:23:07 -0800

You're missing the part where you *CANNOT* enable these extensions in Flare
if you don't specify a valid Feedback server *AND* a valid Feedback license.


So you CANNOT build a Feedback ready Flare help if you don't have Feedback.
That's why I keep emphasizing the If and only if part.

I refer you back to this topi:
http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare5/Content/Feedback/Enabling_Feedback_
in_Flare.htm


sharon

Sharon Burton
MadCap Software Product Consultant
Managing your content, one topic at a time
www.anthrobytes.com
951-369-8590
IM: sharonvburton -at- yahoo -dot- com
Twitter: sharonburton


-----Original Message-----
From: robert -dot- lauriston -at- gmail -dot- com [mailto:robert -dot- lauriston -at- gmail -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Robert Lauriston
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 11:15 AM
To: sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com; Mike Hamilton
Cc: TECHWR-L Writing
Subject: Re: MadCap feedback privacy issue - ignore if you're not interested
(was: Re: in search for better tools)

It's a Flare issue in the sense that the code for generating the
opt-in dialog needs to be added to Flare.

Once the feedback-enabled .chm has been generated, bundled with a
product, and installed by an end user, it doesn't matter whether
there's a Feedback Server running at the specified URL. The .chm will
still collect and attempt to send the data, which in many cases will
generate a firewall or antispyware alert.

On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 11:08 AM, Sharon Burton <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com>
wrote:
> OK - so it's the fact that a Feedback enabled Flare generated help system
is
> gathering the data that upsets you? Did I get it right?
>
> BTW - you CANNOT enable this feature in Flare without a Feedback server
> specified, so it's a Feedback issue, not a Flare issue. *If and only if*
you
> have Feedback installed and configured *AND* *if and only if* you then
> specify that server in Flare, can this information be gathered.
>
> Mike, your turn. I'm going to shower and then finish knitting my grand
> daughter's sweater.
>
>
> sharon
>
> Sharon Burton
> MadCap Software Product Consultant
> Managing your content, one topic at a time
> www.anthrobytes.com
> 951-369-8590
> IM: sharonvburton -at- yahoo -dot- com
> Twitter: sharonburton
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: robert -dot- lauriston -at- gmail -dot- com [mailto:robert -dot- lauriston -at- gmail -dot- com] On
> Behalf Of Robert Lauriston
> Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 11:00 AM
> To: sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com; Mike Hamilton
> Cc: TECHWR-L Writing
> Subject: MadCap feedback privacy issue - ignore if you're not interested
> (was: Re: in search for better tools)
>
> See the following discussion from last November on your forums for a
> real-world complaint by one of your customers:
>
> http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=7564
>
> The privacy issue arises when a .chm generated by Flare with feedback
> enabled "phones home" with information collected about which topics
> the user viewed, which terms they searched for, and which CSH links
> they followed without first popping up an "opt-in" dialog.
>
> This has nothing to do with Feedback Server per se. That the data is
> aggregated at the receiving end does not make it OK to collect it
> without the end user's knowledge or acquiescence.
>
> On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 10:36 AM, Sharon Burton <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com>
> wrote:
>> Perhaps we are not understanding because you're not clearly explaining
> what
>> your issues are? Sometimes something that's really clear in my head
> doesn't
>> get explained outside my head very well.
>>
>> From what I understand from you, you think the issue is that a Flare
> created
>> help system can enabled so that if and only if there is a Feedback server
>> configured, the Flare created help can report blinded aggregate activity?
>>
>> Am I understanding you correctly?


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Follow-Ups:

References:
MadCap feedback privacy issue - ignore if you're not interested (was: Re: in search for better tools): From: Robert Lauriston
RE: MadCap feedback privacy issue - ignore if you're not interested (was: Re: in search for better tools): From: Sharon Burton
Re: MadCap feedback privacy issue - ignore if you're not interested (was: Re: in search for better tools): From: Robert Lauriston

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