From 1d431256bbceb355ed633c323e47f761e86c282d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Julio Biason Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2019 13:38:13 -0300 Subject: [PATCH] New chapter: user privacy --- content/books/things-i-learnt/_index.md | 1 + .../books/things-i-learnt/debuggers/index.md | 2 +- .../integration-tests/index.md | 2 +- content/books/things-i-learnt/users/index.md | 35 +++++++++++++++++++ 4 files changed, 38 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) create mode 100644 content/books/things-i-learnt/users/index.md diff --git a/content/books/things-i-learnt/_index.md b/content/books/things-i-learnt/_index.md index 3299e6b..fe7dbb1 100644 --- a/content/books/things-i-learnt/_index.md +++ b/content/books/things-i-learnt/_index.md @@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ template = "section-contentless.html" * [Learn The Basics of Functional Programming](functional-programming) * [Shortcuts Are Nice, But Only In The Short Run](understand-shortcuts) * [Debuggers Are Overrated](debuggers) + * [Think About The Users](users) * Testing Software * [Unit Tests Are Good, Integration Tests Are Gooder](integration-tests) * [Testing Every Function Creates Dead Code](tests-dead-code) diff --git a/content/books/things-i-learnt/debuggers/index.md b/content/books/things-i-learnt/debuggers/index.md index 5acb618..20b3343 100644 --- a/content/books/things-i-learnt/debuggers/index.md +++ b/content/books/things-i-learnt/debuggers/index.md @@ -37,4 +37,4 @@ Again, I'm not taking the merits of debuggers, but in the long run, they are mostly useless and actually point missing surrounding support to actually understand what's going on. -{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/understand-shortcuts", prev_chapter_title="Shortcuts Are Nice, But Only In The Short Run", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests", next_chapter_title="Unit Tests Are Good, Integration Tests Are Gooder") }} +{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/understand-shortcuts", prev_chapter_title="Shortcuts Are Nice, But Only In The Short Run", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/users", next_chapter_title="Think About The Users") }} diff --git a/content/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests/index.md b/content/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests/index.md index 9e0e6ef..d6a2e62 100644 --- a/content/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests/index.md +++ b/content/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests/index.md @@ -72,4 +72,4 @@ of moving parts. [^2]: Again, it's pure feeling from my experience. I have no data to back that affirmation up, so take it with a grain of salt. -{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/debuggers", prev_chapter_title="Debuggers Are Overrated", next_chapter_title="Testing Every Function Creates Dead Code", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/tests-dead-code") }} +{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/users", prev_chapter_title="Think About The Users", next_chapter_title="Testing Every Function Creates Dead Code", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/tests-dead-code") }} diff --git a/content/books/things-i-learnt/users/index.md b/content/books/things-i-learnt/users/index.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e89601f --- /dev/null +++ b/content/books/things-i-learnt/users/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ ++++ +title = "Things I Learnt The Hard Way - Think About The Users" +date = 2019-07-17 + +[taxonomies] +tags = ["en-au", "books", "things i learnt", "privacy"] ++++ + +Think how the data you're collecting from your users will be used -- this is +more prevalent on these days, where "privacy" is a premium. + + + +I once had a discussion with a CTO about collecting the user IMEI on our +mobile app. Basically, there was no use case for capturing that information +yet but, as he put at the time, "We may want to know if one user uses two +phones, or if two users use the same phone". I raised the fact that we didn't +need this information and, besides that, it felt like we were invading the +users privacy. He still decided to go ahead. My answer: "I'll do it, but I +want to point that I'm not happy with it." + +In the end, the store blocked the app... because we were capturing the IMEI. + +But there are cases and cases. If you really _really_ need to capture user +information, be sure to protect it against unauthorized use, be it by external +forces (someone found a way to attack your data) or internal (some disgruntled +colleague decided to take the data from your users with them). + +And be sure, there _will_ be a leak at some point, it's just a matter of time. +If you can, the best way to protect your users data is to never capture it. +When a flaw on your system is found or when some colleague leaves the company +in bad terms, there will be no data to expose to the world, anyway. You can't +be more secure than this. + +{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/debuggers", prev_chapter_title="Debuggers Are Overrated", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests", next_chapter_title="Unit Tests Are Good, Integration Tests Are Gooder") }}