en | Metrics collection

KeeFox collects anonymous data about the way that it is used and some types of errors that occur. This will allow us to improve KeeFox in future and fix problems more quickly.

No private data will be collected at any time - things like the URLs you visit and the contents of your password database entries will never be collected.

There is an official privacy policy which you should read but this page expands on some aspects of the policy.

Types of collected data

System data

This is a fixed list of metrics that help us to understand the environment in which KeeFox is being used. It is mostly comparable to the sort of data that your browser sends to each website you visit. Changes to the data collected here will be treated as a notable change to the privacy policy and notified accordingly. The following data are collected:

• Operating system (e.g. Microsoft Windows Vista)
• Browser (e.g. Firefox 26.0 or Thunderbird 21.5)
• KeeFox addon version (e.g. 1.3.0)
• Browser language (e.g. en-US)
• .NET framework version
• KeePass version

Usage data

This data contains measurements that help us to understand how KeeFox is used, what areas need improvement and what features are of lesser importance. The actual data collected will vary for each KeeFox release but will always match the description below.

Typical data collected will include things like which parts of the KeeFox user interface you clicked on, changes you've made to default options, errors that occurred within KeeFox and basic statistics about the KeePass databases being used, such as how many databases you have opened.

The initial implementation concentrates on revealing information about the setup process. A few other metrics will be recorded too but I expect further metrics to be added later.

How it works

System information about the KeeFox installation is collected and sent shortly after you start your browser.

Usage data is collected immediately and depending on the type of data, sent either:

1. At a regular interval in batches small enough to prevent any impact on your system
2. The next time the system information is sent following a browser restart

Technical users can review the relevant source code to verify the information on this page.

Controlling data collection

You can disable most of the data collection by deselecting the relevant option on the Advanced tab of KeeFox Options.

This setting will disable all usage data collection, although an error message may still be sent in the unlikely event that the metrics module is unable to initialise correctly.

How the data is analysed

To be determined. Count.ly mobile app analytics looks close to what we need but there are just a few concepts that don't quite fit the profile of a Firefox addon. Most other analytics packages are too focussed on mining personal data and marketing demographics from users so they are not a good fit for the type of data KeeFox will be producing.

I expect that initial analysis will be purely text based and ad-hoc to help answer specific questions that arise over the next 6 months but after that we should have enough data to make it worth experimenting with more advanced and pro-active analysis techniques.

Why we collect this information

As mentioned above, this data will allow us to improve KeeFox and fix problems more quickly than would otherwise be possible.

If you're interested in more detail about the reasons for this change and some background regarding the timing of the change, you can read my response on the following forum thread:

https://discussions.zoho.com/keefox/topic/keefox-1-3b1-why-in-hell-start-mining-metrics-now-after-all-these-years-what-is-going-on-here-very-suspicious#71684000000389023