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Does Affinity collect and send data from computers?


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12 minutes ago, R C-R said:
48 minutes ago, xarthangrol said:

...none of the policy applies.

...so what is your point?

I think he means none of the Web Privacy Policy applies when using the software, now resolved .

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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23 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

(you are not that interesting ;) )

Maybe if you got to know me better you would think differently about that. :72_imp:

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
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1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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6 minutes ago, Steps said:

...Does that happen?

That does not happen, but you are right, anonymously that sort of thing could be done under the terms of the license. As Data Protection Officer I would ensure it was anonymous (for statistical use only), which is all the programmers would want anyway. But no it doesn't so this is theoretical.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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3 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

That does not happen, but you are right, anonymously that sort of thing could be done under the terms of the license. As Data Protection Officer I would ensure it was anonymous (for statistical use only), which is all the programmers would want anyway. But no it doesn't so this is theoretical.

That's good to hear. Thank you! :)

Windows 10 Pro x64 (1903). Intel Core i7-9700K @ 3.60GHz, 32 GB memory, NVidia RTX 2080
Affinity Photo 1.7.2.471, Affinity Designer 1.7.2.471, Affinity Publisher 1.7.2.471

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51 minutes ago, xarthangrol said:

Some people might say I'm being over the top, 

No, I think this is perfectly valid.

Look at all the data leaks nowadays. Most people just don't understand it or care.

And acknowledge how many people still continue to use WhatsApp even it has been proven over and over to be the most unsecure communication platform ever.

Fact is, most people are lazy on this and just don't care. And you can't change that. Just let it go.

IMHO it's totally okay to ask what happens with your data.

Windows 10 Pro x64 (1903). Intel Core i7-9700K @ 3.60GHz, 32 GB memory, NVidia RTX 2080
Affinity Photo 1.7.2.471, Affinity Designer 1.7.2.471, Affinity Publisher 1.7.2.471

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30 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

(it's just occurred to me) Amusingly, as it has a login, this off the shelf forum tracks (spies on :P ) users far more than any of our software ever has.  [sorry if that seems too flippant]

Publisher takes my full name (First & Last) and automatically adds it to the Author field on any document I create.  As far as I can see there is no way to stop it doing that. Neither can I change the Author Field to default to something else whenever I create a new document.  (e.g. a pen name)

So for each and every document I share on this forum (or others) I have to remember to change that Author Field to something that does not reveal my full identity (name) to any scammers that may want to misuse that information.

If I forget to do that just once I will have inadvertantly uploaded details I did not want to upload to the world, due to your software.

I dont recall ever telling Publisher to use my full name on my documents at anytime during its installation so where did it get that information and why does it use it, without given me the option to change it globally?

Due to the fact that Publisher automatucally uses my full name on any document I upload to this forum I find that much more worrying than the username I choose to use to log into this forum

Sorry if this sounds flippant

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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4 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

I am not surprised. Looking at this I think it is only linked to from the Store Help [license section] and that the Help link itself is only available in the burger menu when logged into the store. I think that should be improved for a start.

It could be improved but it probably should be mentioned here that if an Affinity app is purchased from the Mac, iOS, or Microsoft Store, the licensing & usage terms of those stores & their privacy policies also apply.

Another complication is that the governing laws vary depending on the jurisdiction (often of both the seller & the buyer) & those boilerplate clauses that say all disputes will be settled according to the laws of a specific jurisdiction are themselves subject to legal disputes & may not be enforceable everywhere anyway.

That's why these things are so long & full of legal jargon.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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2 minutes ago, carl123 said:

Publisher takes my full name...

...Sorry if this sounds flippant

Not at all, but really the subject of this thread. So although related, can you copy/paste post a "bug" in the publisher forum also please as this is beta software. To be picky we are not responsible for you uploading files here, but making that information optional seems perfectly correct.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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Quote
Our applications:

Affinity applications collect some anonymous information, for example usage data, application name and version number, language and OS version but no Personal Data. This is used to ensure correct content is shown in the welcome screen of the applications and to help notify you of product updates.

We will also collect crash report data, but only if you choose to submit it to us at the time.

In addition to this our beta versions of the applications will automatically send additional data to help diagnose issues including GFX card information, Direct X data, CPU info and platform patches.

Sorry, but my earlier statement about the webite version of the Privacy Policy not covering the application was INCORRECT. From the above quote it clearly does and in more detail that the license (will edit that post to reference this one). SORRY AGAIN.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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5 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

Not at all, but really the subject of this thread. So although related, can you copy/paste post a "bug" in the publisher forum also please as this is beta software. To be picky we are not responsible for you uploading files here, but making that information optional seems perfectly correct.

I posted about this back on August 30th when I first PM'd you regarding this. (4.5 months ago.)

I have no intention of wasting time doing it again

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/64995-my-full-name-is-being-displayed-in-apub-files-please-disable-this/

And yes my post is relevant to the subject of this thread

"Does Affinity collect and send data from computers?"

Yes, your software automatically collects my full name from somewhere and attaches it to every document I send to anywhere else

 

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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53 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

I am not surprised. Looking at this I think it is only linked to from the Store Help [license section] and that the Help link itself is only available in the burger menu when logged into the store. I think that should be improved for a start.

But for those who have the software installed it's also linked from the Welcome screen, I think.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
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It is linked in the software. I meant improve it for those who are yet to buy and looking for confidence in the purchase what the license looks like, we should expose the Store Help and the Software License a bit better.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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17 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

But for those who have the software installed it's also linked from the Welcome screen, I think.

I am not seeing that on the Mac App Store versions, but maybe I am just overlooking where the link is on that screen.

Edited by R C-R
added "App Store" because that might be relevant

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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32 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I am not seeing that on the Mac App Store versions, but maybe I am just overlooking where the link is on that screen.

Try the About screen (teeny tiny text!)

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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44 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

Try the About screen (teeny tiny text!)

Do you mean this?
1690672078_aboutAPh.jpg.71ba3d0bdfa47324d31ce138ecaf464d.jpg
If so, I am still not seeing anything in it that is a link to anything.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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3 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Do you mean this?

If so, I am still not seeing anything in it that is a link to anything.

Yes, I also heared a rumor that there is actually text on that screen. The say the same about the Publisher screen.

But there is no way to know. :)

Windows 10 Pro x64 (1903). Intel Core i7-9700K @ 3.60GHz, 32 GB memory, NVidia RTX 2080
Affinity Photo 1.7.2.471, Affinity Designer 1.7.2.471, Affinity Publisher 1.7.2.471

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1 minute ago, Steps said:

Yes, I also heared a rumor that there is actually text on that screen.

I can see the text, if not clearly because it is so small. But there seems not to be a link to anything in it, not to the licensing terms or to anything else.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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3 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I can see the text, if not clearly because it is so small.

Obviously I was joking. Nevermind.

Windows 10 Pro x64 (1903). Intel Core i7-9700K @ 3.60GHz, 32 GB memory, NVidia RTX 2080
Affinity Photo 1.7.2.471, Affinity Designer 1.7.2.471, Affinity Publisher 1.7.2.471

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Sorry turns out the links are in the Mac 1.7 betas only. Windows release builds have the links already on the About screens (as do the 1.7 betas).

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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On my PC, Affinity Photo (Windows)  from 01.01.2018 to 16.01.2019
has approximately downloaded 111,74KB and uploaded 27,19KB.
12 servers from Amazon, S3-eu-west.-1.amazonaws.com located in Ireland.
8 transfers again to ireland but not much information is given.
 

Sketchbook (with Affinity Suite usage) | timurariman.com | gumroad.com/myclay
Windows 11 Pro - 22H2 | Ryzen 5800X3D | RTX 3090 - 24GB | 128GB |
Main SSD with 1TB | SSD 4TB | PCIe SSD 256GB (configured as Scratch disk) |

 

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23 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

Windows release builds have the links already on the About screens (as do the 1.7 betas).

I really must get that new 90 inch monitor so that I can read the "About" screen! :1_grinning:  - Talk about having to read the "small print"!

Acer XC-895 : Core i5-10400 Hexa-core 2.90 GHz :  32GB RAM : Intel UHD Graphics 630 : Windows 10 Home
Affinity Publisher 2 : Affinity Photo 2 : Affinity Designer 2 : (latest release versions) on desktop and iPad

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On 1/12/2019 at 12:12 PM, xarthangrol said:

In these dark days of implied consent and telemetry as excuses to collect data I'd rather know before buying whether or not it does, and if it does, exactly what it does.

Usually it is just that though. Usage data. It's very important to implement new features, and know "what the user wants". People always complain about that at the same time, right? That companies don't "listen to their users". Telemetry is a nice way of providing this information, without asking the selected 1% of software users which frequent the internet.

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30 minutes ago, chakko007 said:

Usually it is just that though. Usage data. It's very important to implement new features, and know "what the user wants". People always complain about that at the same time, right? That companies don't "listen to their users". Telemetry is a nice way of providing this information, without asking the selected 1% of software users which frequent the internet.

Yes, but history has proven that companies also abused this kind of data.

It's a good thing to ask people if they want it and show them plain text what is sent to let them decide.

Many software does it that way and more often than not I decide to participate if I understand what happens. Take the Steam hardware survey or the Debian apt statistics as examples.

Doing it without asking / opt-in is not a good manner.

Windows 10 Pro x64 (1903). Intel Core i7-9700K @ 3.60GHz, 32 GB memory, NVidia RTX 2080
Affinity Photo 1.7.2.471, Affinity Designer 1.7.2.471, Affinity Publisher 1.7.2.471

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If I were asked I would allow Serif knowing how often I use a feature / tool and what file types I work on or export. But both in absolute counts. Aggregated per month at most.

I, however, would would not want them to collect on what days at which time I use tools. I concider this personal data.

And "anonymous"... I submit data at least with my IP address.

Windows 10 Pro x64 (1903). Intel Core i7-9700K @ 3.60GHz, 32 GB memory, NVidia RTX 2080
Affinity Photo 1.7.2.471, Affinity Designer 1.7.2.471, Affinity Publisher 1.7.2.471

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3 minutes ago, Steps said:

And "anonymous"... I submit data at least with my IP address.

Via your IP address, but not with your IP address, that would not be a parameter or stored, it's identifiable.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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