Privacy Practices and Options in Telemetry and Licensing
Hello all: I am just about finished with my first production-quality app. I developed it for macOS and Windows with full platform parity and am about to port to Ubuntu/Debian before releasing. I have licensing setup through Keygen.sh. I am happy with that decision so far; however, I have questions regarding that issue and the issue of telemetry. Privacy is a focus of mine and a commitment I made to prospective subscribers. That said, I need some form of telemetry and a DRM that can take subscription payments. I am trying to think of the best way to implement the Keygen.sh API for privacy. The app has, well, an app--the client--and it also has a remote server component. It will mostly be free but the more labor intensive developed elements and the tools that require the remote server will be paid at either a monthly or annual subscription rate. I am so confused about how to best implement the licensing API while remaining true to my privacy commitments. Part of me says, "Well, their information is going to be on Keygen's servers anyway, might as well host the store through their website/portal." The other inclination is to host the store on my server/website, so I can control how much information PII is required. The answer can be “very little,” but a much bigger question arises surrounding what to do with the information once accepted. (I’ve considered maintaining the subscriber data in some kind of encrypted space on the server with hardcoded, volatile keys. That way not even I can see their data, but they’d still be able to search for and regenerate their licenses, management payment methods, etc.) The other question I have is along that same vein and involves telemetry. What I would like to do is keep the telemetry deliverables locally stored. When the user has an issue, experiences a bug, or has some other issue requiring my troubleshooting assistance, I can request it and they can choose to release their telemetry data to me. In between those disclosures, using