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As you can see on this image:

changeset with personal data

... the iD Editor saves a bunch of questionable data by default. Is there a way to prevent this behaviour?

asked 17 May '15, 22:36

redplanet's gravatar image

redplanet
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accept rate: 0%

edited 18 May '15, 21:47

aseerel4c26's gravatar image

aseerel4c26 ♦
32.6k18248554


FWIW, we have already removed this behavior from master.. So you can just use the iD that is hosted on http://openstreetmap.us/iD/master/ and it will not write these things into the changeset.

There is another option too: What's nice about iD is that it is a JavaScript app and so you can change almost anything about it that you do not like, while it is running. Pretty awesome huh? Here's how:

1) Open Developer Tools and find the console

2) (if you are on openstreetmap.org) make sure the console is debugging the iD iframe:

in Chrome/Safari: change the dropdown from <top frame> to id-embed (id)

in Firefox: type cd('#id-embed')

3) Enter commands to remove the things you don't like:

iD.detect().browser = ''

iD.detect().version = ''

iD detect().platform = ''

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answered 18 May '15, 02:48

bhousel's gravatar image

bhousel
2.1k12528
accept rate: 38%

edited 18 May '15, 02:51

… and http://openstreetmap.us/iD/master/ uses google analytics to spy on the user and share the user's data with google … "pretty awesome" too. ;-)

Thanks for the description of the theoretical possibility to do a live patch of iD, though! But you will agree that barely no OSM will practically do this for each iD session.

a link to the relevant change ("we have already removed this behavior"): https://github.com/openstreetmap/iD/pull/2643

(18 May '15, 21:45) aseerel4c26 ♦
1

Whoa, aseerel4c26. bhousel posts that the iD developers have already changed this - i.e. it's just waiting for the next osm.org deployment to update it - and you still take the opportunity to flame him. Great way to encourage developers to contribute to osm.org.

(18 May '15, 23:23) Richard ♦

@Richard: yes, this issue is whoa indeed. To make my comment less whoa I have removed the side question which I answered myself (the link).

Yes, it is nice that the issue is partly resolved now (I already had added a "Update" section to my diary entry about this). Note that the OP @redplanet complains about his "locale" in the title and @bhousel reports that the new version "will not write these things into the changeset". Not true – if I see correctly in the github pull/merge the locale is still silently saved into the changeset.

Regarding your ironic last sentence: Please tell me, why should I want to encourage developers doing changes to OSM software which more or less irreversibly invade the privacy of thousands of OSM contributors and cost a big amount of all of our time? I did not even read (I may have missed it) an excuse ... Yes, I think I know where you are coming from – we need more devs doing good work, I fully agree. But needing devs does not mean that they are king and that ordinary OSM contributors have no rights.

(19 May '15, 00:37) aseerel4c26 ♦
1

Thanks for the description of the theoretical possibility to do a live patch of iD, though! But you will agree that barely no one on OSM will practically do this for each iD session.

Oh definitely. I think it's far more likely that anyone that concerned about concealing which browser they use would just spoof their UserAgent string.

(19 May '15, 03:05) bhousel

Id is an open source editor so there certainly is a way to prevent this behaviour - download the source, modify the bit you don't like, and run your own version. You can even offer this modified version to other users concerned about privacy like you are.

If you want to file an issue with the Id editor, see https://github.com/openstreetmap/iD/issues ; you might also want to read https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/aseerel4c26/diary/34899 for a discussion about the matter.

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answered 17 May '15, 23:05

Frederik%20Ramm's gravatar image

Frederik Ramm ♦
82.5k927201273
accept rate: 23%

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question asked: 17 May '15, 22:36

question was seen: 3,073 times

last updated: 19 May '15, 12:51

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum