Re: MacCap feedback - surreptitious reporting confirmed

Subject: Re: MacCap feedback - surreptitious reporting confirmed
From: Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:56:47 -0800

For easy future reference, here's MadCap's recommended workaround and
explanation:

"... generate two .chm files, one with [feedback enabled] and one
without. Then create an installer that politely asks which one the
user would like to install. As to adding an opt-out to a .chm file,
the format is locked down by Microsoft so the only way to do such a
thing would be to add a new .dll file that would have to be installed
with the .chm file and registered on the machine. That would be a HUGE
amount of overhead for something that would be much easier to do via
the installer option I mentioned above. Or, the only way to do it
without a .dll would be to add an opt-out to every single topic - not
realistic at all."

Full post:

http://www.techwr-l.com/archives/0912/techwhirl-0912-00352.html

On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 8:19 AM, Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com> wrote:
> I'm surprised to find that in fact local help (.chm etc.) generated by
> MadCap Flare with the feedback feature enabled does collect data on
> topics viewed, search terms, and CSH calls without getting an opt-in
> from the user:
>
> "... we have some very high security end-users with very strict
> policies. The workaround solution we found was just to instruct users
> who do not want to submit feedback to block our secure URL."
>
> http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=7564
>
> http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare/Content/Feedback/Feedback_Explorer_Internal_Versus_External.htm
>
> Yeah, this isn't the user's driver's license or credit card, but it is
> information about the user. Collecting it is a violation of privacy,
> and in some places illegal.
>
> Since it's being sent over the internet, the data *is* traceable back
> to the user via the IP.
>
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