Why So Much Telemetry ?

[Threlly]

Hi All,

My Pi Hole is blocking an INCREDIBLE amount of DropBox telemetry, even more than Windows telemetry, and by a large margin.

So I have a few questions.

1. What is this telemetry for ?

2. What information is in there ?

3. Who gets to see it (ie, is it shared in any way with, let's say, advertisers)

4. Why is it being blocked by my standard Pi Hole list, what threat could it be ?

5. Where do I turn it off if I wish to ?

Cheers,

Threlly

[Threlly]

Where are Dropbox in this thread?
Are you not valued customers?
Will you all not accept what has happened to your privacy?
The silence is deafening.

[Threlly]

Ok,

So it looks like Dropbox are trying to ignore us.

Best to all raise a ticket and post on the forum.

Dropbox's social media may also benefit from a post ot two.

[Threlly]

Hi All,

My Pi Hole is blocking an INCREDIBLE amount of DropBox telemetry, even more than Windows telemetry, and by a large margin.

So I have a few questions.

1. What is this telemetry for ?

2. What information is in there ?

3. Who gets to see it (ie, is it shared in any way with, let's say, advertisers)

4. Why is it being blocked by my standard Pi Hole list, what threat could it be ?

5. Where do I turn it off if I wish to ?

Cheers,

Threlly

[Threlly]

Why can this NOT be turned off.

[Threlly]

Ok,

So Dropbox will not address the problem of data being siphoned from our machines & devices, the options in the client do NOT stop this.

Their privacy statement does not address this issue and it remains seemingly illegal within GDPR regulations.

Why has this not been addressed ?

[AndyBe]

The silence speaks for itself. Already moved all my files off of Dropbox and won’t renew my subscription.

[moebius]

also joined this thread after finding out telemetry.dropbox.com in the top list of blocked domains, any news on how to opt-out? any news on what kind of information is shared? I'm also from Europe and i believe this could be a GDPR breach, I don't think that the fact that this telemetry is part of the EULA we accepted can supersede the GDPR obligations.

Can you please clarify and let us know where is the opt-out button?

thanks

[Mark]

@moebius 

The opt out option would be to not use the service. As a Dropbox employee has said no information is stored etc. so its outside of GDPR. If you are unhappy, however, the only way to not be involved is not use the service. 

Certain levels of business users can request where data is stored, but, personal users cannot. 

[PrivacyAdvocate]

I know I'm missing the principle argument here, but we all (myself included) came here because our Pi-holes are blocking a large amount of traffic.  That's why we installed Pi-hole; it is doing what it is supposed to.  If worried about telemetry being sent back to Dropbox, why?  They aren't receiving the telemetry because it is being blocked.  I am curious about what the consequences of blocking this telemetry will be.

[Threlly]

Let's be clear.

If you are an American company and you are handling the data of EU citizens, you are subject to GDPR.

End of story.
In the same way China has forced Google & Apple to locate servers in their territory in order to comply with regulations, this is the same principle.

I have removed the Dropbox client from all of my machines & mobile devices.

I have ceased to use the service in any meaningful way and will not return until this is resolved.
I suggest all users who value their data and their privacy consider this.