telemetry-service/docs/PRIVACY.md

Privacy & Telemetry Documentation

Community-Scripts Telemetry Service

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Overview

The Community-Scripts project includes an opt-in telemetry system that collects anonymous technical data when users install applications via Proxmox VE Helper-Scripts. This document explains what is collected, how it is processed, and how users can control it.

Dashboard: https://telemetry.community-scripts.org

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Consent & Opt-In

Telemetry is strictly opt-in. On first use, a dialog asks users whether they want to share anonymous data:

• No option is pre-selected — users must actively choose
• Pressing Exit/Cancel defaults to opt-out
• The choice is persisted in /usr/local/community-scripts/diagnostics
• Users can change their preference at any time via the Settings menu during installation or by editing the config file directly

Changing Your Preference

Via Settings menu: During any script installation, navigate to the Settings menu and select "Telemetry".

Via command line (on PVE host):

# Opt out
sed -i 's/^DIAGNOSTICS=.*/DIAGNOSTICS=no/' /usr/local/community-scripts/diagnostics

# Opt in
sed -i 's/^DIAGNOSTICS=.*/DIAGNOSTICS=yes/' /usr/local/community-scripts/diagnostics

Inside a container (for addon scripts):

# The same file exists inside containers created after opting in
sed -i 's/^DIAGNOSTICS=.*/DIAGNOSTICS=no/' /usr/local/community-scripts/diagnostics

Note: Changing the setting on the host affects all new containers. Existing containers retain the preference set at creation time.

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What We Collect

All data is purely technical and anonymous. No field can identify a natural person.

Container & VM Installations (type: lxc, vm)

Field	Example	Purpose
nsapp	docker, homeassistant	Which application was installed
status	success, failed	Whether the installation succeeded
exit_code	0, 1, 130	Exit code for error categorization
error	dpkg: error ...	Truncated error message (failed installs only)
ct_type	1 (unprivileged)	Container privilege type
disk_size	8	Disk size in GB
core_count	2	Number of CPU cores
ram_size	2048	RAM in MiB
os_type	debian	Operating system
os_version	12	OS version
pve_version	8.3	Proxmox VE version
method	default, advanced	Installation method used
install_duration	45	Duration in seconds
random_id	a1b2c3d4-...	Random UUID (not linked to user/system)
execution_id	a1b2c3d4-...	Unique execution identifier

PVE Tools (type: pve)

Field	Example	Purpose
nsapp	post-pve-install, microcode	Which tool was executed
status	success, failed	Execution result
exit_code	0	Exit code
pve_version	8.3	Proxmox VE version
install_duration	12	Duration in seconds

Addon Scripts (type: addon)

Field	Example	Purpose
nsapp	filebrowser, netdata	Which addon was installed
status	success, failed	Installation result
exit_code	0	Exit code
os_type	debian	Container OS
os_version	12	Container OS version
install_duration	30	Duration in seconds

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What We Do NOT Collect

• No IP addresses — not logged, not stored, not forwarded
• No hostnames or domain names
• No MAC addresses or hardware serial numbers
• No user credentials, passwords, or API tokens
• No network configuration or internal IP addresses
• No file paths, directory listings, or file contents
• No personal data of any kind (GDPR Art. 4 Nr. 1)

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How Data Is Used

The collected data serves the following purposes exclusively:

1. Script Quality — Identify scripts with high failure rates and fix them
2. Popularity Ranking — Understand which scripts are most used to prioritize maintenance
3. Resource Trends — Analyze typical CPU, RAM, and disk allocations
4. OS Compatibility — Track which OS versions are in use
5. Error Analysis — Categorize common failure patterns for faster debugging

All aggregated statistics are publicly visible on the dashboard.

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Data Processing & Storage

Aspect	Details
Processor	Self-hosted on IONOS VPS in Germany (Frankfurt/Berlin)
Database	PocketBase (SQLite-based, self-hosted)
Retention	Data is stored indefinitely for trend analysis
Encryption	TLS 1.3 in transit, encrypted storage at rest
Access	Write: telemetry service only. Read: aggregated dashboard (public)
Third parties	None — no data is shared with or sold to third parties
Backups	Automated, encrypted, same data center

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Legal Basis (GDPR)

Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — Legitimate Interest

The legitimate interest lies in improving open-source software for the community. Since:

• No personal data is collected (Art. 4 Nr. 1 GDPR)
• Data collection is opt-in with active consent
• Users can withdraw at any time
• All data is anonymous and cannot identify individuals

the processing is GDPR-compliant. For detailed documentation, see:

• Records of Processing Activities (ROPA) — Art. 30 GDPR
• Technical & Organizational Measures (TOMS) — Art. 32 GDPR

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Contact & Issues

• Questions: Open an issue at telemetry-service
• Privacy concerns: Open an issue with the privacy label
• Source code: Fully open source — review the service implementation
• Discussion: ProxmoxVE Discussions