The common reaction to companies that gather telemetry is that it is being done anonymously, but there is more to it than just gathering data.
I do believe that it is being done with the best intentions and to gather data to improve Nvidia's products.
We live in an era where people become more educated in what data gathering really means and how it potentially can be used for totally other purposes under local rule of law of the country where data is being gathered and stored.
First of it's about the telemetry data set that in itself can be fully anonymous, but this same data set is not anonymous anymore when you combine this with the data set of the connection it is gathered from and the server that is used to store data on. These TWO data sets together are NOT anonymous. It represents the full profile of a digital identity. This extends towards local OS account information that the data gathering service is running on.
It is also important in what country this data is being gathered from. For instance in America there is The Patriot Act that allows for active data screening and storage as a 3rd party that is along for the ride in the background.
Be very aware that this law only reflects on Americans and the American continent and any non-American should not in any way a subject to it. The rest of the planet did not vote or does have any true influence on this kind of regulation. When Nvidia's telemetry data server is within the American borders the authority is allowed to confiscate this data kind of when the wish to. To many of us this is beyond absurd.
Since 2013 the United Nations had adopted resolutions that say privacy around the gathering of data is basic human right. These resolutions are backed by at least 167 UN member states.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/DigitalAge/Pages/DigitalAgeIndex.aspx
However, while these basic rights exist there are countries that continue to violate these basic human rights with their own ideas with law for their own subjects that include surveillance and interception of communications. The great nation of America is one of those countries unfortunately and there's a digital fish net in place that gathers all this data.
This means that data from non-American citizens is being collected illegally.
The whole world knows that this happens right now as we speak and every non-encrypted presumed anonymous data set that really is not anonymous is being gathered even through Nvidia's telemetry service.
There are still ways to keep all of Nvidia's customers happy with keeping all this in mind. It does mean that this whole system needs to be allot more innovative than it is right now.
First of all the data must be send encrypted. It's already being send through SSL on port 443 so encryption is possible.
Second, the data must be stored on an encrypted database to secure this data in case of unlawful breach.
Third, the data server must be in a country where the government can't just walk in and demand the telemetry data sets as well as the storage server data set. For instance in the Switzerland data center at CERN under Swiss Federal Data Protection Act (DPA) and the Swiss Federal Data Protection Ordinance (DPO) which offers some of the strongest privacy protection in the world for both individuals and corporations.
My dearest Nvidia, i would like to kindly request to you to look into this very seriously and be one of those big companies on this planet that truly gives a damn about basic human rights.
So there are a few questions that i as a customer would like to ask you:
1. What data specifically is being gathered?
2. When not installing Nvidia Experience is data still being gathered?
3. Is there a way to opt-out from data gathering?
4. Is the data being send fully encrypted to avoid 3rd parties to copy the data while it's being send?
5. In which country is the data being stored?
6. Is the data server and the data stored encrypted in case of breach?
7. Who are these "select partners"?
It is time for change Nvidia and it is now also up to you to be a partner in that revolution that cares about their customers.
As i said before i am sure that your intentions are to do good for all of us in the long run and together we must make sure that it stays this way.
I had this same run-in with Electronic Arts regarding the gathering of user data and OS telemetry through Origin. The program does offer an opt-out selector, however a bug let these options reset on every startup and it is even questionable if they even stop data being gathered at all.
Their response to it was the recent change of their EULA saying it was not being shared with 3rd parties, which is a bust to begin with, and literally stating that if you do not want data to be gathered than you should not install the software. That is hardly what it should be and it is the cheap customer unfriendly way out.
I truly hope Nvidia is more intelligent than that, because i love your company and i love your products.
Please forward this reaction to the general management. Thank you.
