Can I get away with sending exception reports without asking the user?

I write small to medium sized applications, many of which I release onto the Internet. Hopefully, all will be well, but if by some unthinkably hideous disaster, an exception occ开发者_运维技巧urs, can I quietly submit that report?

I could make every effort to remove the account name, and I would probably only collect the exception text.

Surely what a user doesn't know has just been sent can't hurt them, or me and my programs.

So far, users have to manually report bugs to me, but I would like to get away from this if I can, and I just want to know whether you think I can get away with this, and what you guys do.

Thanks a lot in advance!

User needs to approve that application can send out error information somewhere on the net.

Usually this is part of EULA, so most of users do not realize that they gave that approval.

My opinion is that it's better to add checkbox to error dialog "Send this error to YourCompanyName" with default value to "true".

If you send data from the user's machine without the user's permission, you run the risk of users bringing legal action against you. You may also get flagged as a virus or malicious app.

I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that US and EU privacy and data protection laws require disclosure of and user acceptance of your application's handling of personal information, which can include userids, machine IP addresses, and even stack traces that show modules loaded or function parameter values.

Even if you are confident that the data you're sending is fully anonymous to the letter of the law(s), if your app is found to be sending "mysterious" data without user permission, it will likely be flagged as a potential virus, zombie, or other malicious label.

Recall that the Prodigy network client app in the early 90's was slammed by user hysteria over claims that the client app "scans your hard disk to harvest personal info". The reality was that the client app merely opened a swap file on disk and did not zero out the disk sectors, so old data from deleted files would occasionally "appear" to be residing in the client app swap file. This is an example of where the truth (Prodigy was doing nothing wrong) was irrelevant, perception created the hysteria and did the damage.

I wouldn't do this. It is considered a bad practice to send any information (anonymous or not) without the user's consent. Prompting the user to explain to them what data will be sent, or requiring them to agree to send data reports before they install the app is a better way to do it.

If this is something running on your server with your client/customer using it, I would not think twice about collecting my own information.

If it is something installed on a customer's machine, I'd think about Sony's lawsuit with their Root Kit.

Also, notice how Microsoft politely asks if a person will allow this before they proceed.

I do not know personally if gathering customer's permission is legal, but I would not want to be caught doing it.

You can, just state it clearly in the EULA users agree to when installing. Do make sure you have an opt-out possibility.