How can i see the information / logs send it by the application?

I have logs in my uploaded and my pending folders, but nothing shows up on my dashboard. I installed yesterday, but the dashboard page says it will display if I send the update now (which I have done already).

How long does it take to show the logs?

It got fixed. I don't have any data from yesterday, though, so it apparently thought it was logging and never uploaded the logs or something. I'll send some logs from yesterday to the email address.

Why is the os_username info included in the log?

Hmmm, not so nice to have the os_username in the log....

Also, I would like to keep my upload files on my hard drive.
If future updates should limit this, should also give the option to the user if he wants to activate or not.

Interesting software, I am little concerned, but will give a try.

I also have a question...Does the whitelist only apply to websites, or is it for websites AND applications on my PC. In other words, if I list a number of domains in the whitelist, will it only track those websites, or will it only track those websites and also all my applications? If the latter, is there some way to create an application whitelist?

In general, my feelings are that I agree with Bol.

I have some significant privacy concerns...after all, this software is going to be logging pretty much everything we do.

The Privacy Policy on your website isn't really sufficient explanation of what degree of detail your software will be collecting. And, for those less technical among us, directing us to the Logfiles isn't really of great help. Additionally, directing us to the logfiles doesn't help hugely since we can only view the logfiles AFTER the event (i.e. after the data has already been collected) - if we look at it and decide we consider it an invasion of our privacy, most of the time it's too late to do anything about it.

For now I've got logging disabled until I make up my mind about this.....
.....although that has also presented me with another concern - it's not clear but it seems to be implying that logging will automatically be restarted next time I start RescueTime - thus increasing the chances I will accidentally allow logging every time I restart my PC. Whilst I could disable it each time, this seems like a measure deliberately designed to cause users to accidentally or unwittingly allow their data to be collected, thus reducing my trust in RescueTime's credibility. It also then raises the question - will my other privacy settings (e.g. Record Partial URLs only, do not record OS username, etc.) revert to default setting under certain circumstances?

And that brings me back full circle to Bol's concern regarding OS Usernames...if there's a setting to not have the OS Username collected, why is it still being recorded in the logs & uploaded to RescueTime's servers?

We know RescueTime intend to sell what they call 'aggregate' data, but the concerns above, combined with the fact that the software is new and buggy (I encountered 2 issues before I even verified my account on the website), does not inspire the highest confidence in RescueTime's intent OR ability to safeguard privacy to the highest level...at least, not until these concerns/issues are addressed.

Sorry Joe but saying it doesn't make it to your databases, from my point of view, is neither here nor there - After all, it's still being collected in the log file, and the log file is still being uploaded to RescueTime's servers in its entirety. Any parsing and thus discarding of data at the other end is out of our hands. The data shouldn't be leaving our PCs in the first place.

(I gather from Joe's comment, and the fact its a month old now, that the "do not record OS username" setting may be a new feature added since Joe's comment - but my initial log still recorded the OS Username).

It was not my intention, when I began writing this reply, to sound quite so critical of the issues I have with the software... but my privacy concerns have magnified as writing this post has crystallised them in my own mind.

Fundamentally I think the software is a good idea, and am interested in using it.

Personally, I would happily pay a one off fee of about $20-$40 to have the software completely stand-alone on my PC and provide the dashboard, tagging, and Goals & Alerts features through it's own user interface on my PC, and not connect or upload any info online at all...unless specifically requested to do so by the user (e.g. to access other features such as groups)...and then only data that had been very precisely specified by the user.

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the detailed post. I certainly understand your thinking regarding the privacy policy, and appreciate your efforts to make it more detailed & precise.

With regard to the 2 bugs I encountered before downloading, I've already communicated them to RescueTime staff elsewhere. If I find more I'll certainly pass on the details...though for now I'm not using the application due to my privacy concerns.

Some of your answers are things I had already considered, but didn't feel were a satisfactory mitigation of the issues. E.g. the ability to manually delete logfiles...my counter argument to this would be that
a) manually deleting logfiles would not be something friendly to the average non techy user;
b) manually deleting logfiles before they get uploaded, creates a maintenance overhead & inconvenience, which defeats the entire purpose of a time management application designed to increase productivity and save time (especially without extra maintenance, as this seems to be part of your unique selling point).

However, since you guys are committed to nailing this, rather than just continue to present my counter viewpoints to your answers, I thought it'd be more productive to make suggestions as to what I would need as a minimum, to mitigate my concerns enough to give the product a proper chance:

1. The aforementioned specifics and details in the privacy policy.

2. An additional whitelist for applications running on my PC.

3. The option of separate blacklists each for applications and websites. In other words, a list that allows me to specify domains and applications that I want excluded from RescueTime's monitoring - so that the application only logs them under a generic heading (e.g. Other or Miscellaneous) or not at all.

4. For the aforementioned white and black lists to be in a more user friendly & reliable format than text files (I find text files conducive to typos & wouldn't want the risk of sending private data just because I didn't notice myself mistype a domain or application name)...in the case of web domain names, a more friendly font & text editor, with the clear use of wildcards allowed.
In the case of applications, ideally by supplying a "training mode" function like firewall and anti-virus software has, that allows us to specify whitelist or blacklist as & when applications are used.

5. First thing upon installation, the default settings of the application to be in favour of strictest privacy (including all measures suggested directly above), with the option for the user to then remove privacy later if they wish...Ideally by a set of radio buttons that allow the user to choose between 'profiles' including:
a) the default "maximum privacy" setting, where basically no data other than Name of application, Date, and Time spent using it, are logged but not uploaded except via manually clicking a button in the user interface.
b) a "custom" setting allowing the user to manually change each setting in your preferences/settings interface independently.
c) a "low/zero privacy" setting - which I consider your current default settings to be consistent with.

(it is vital that the default is like this upon installation, as currently even though I checked "do not record OS username" - because it wasn't the default - this data was recorded in the application's first log).

6. A "training mode" as suggested above that can be run in conjunction with the other 3 privacy 'profiles' (i.e. to use the radio buttons as a starting point & customise on the fly)......where the user is asked each time an application is being used (or website visited), whether to allow data logging or not, and what level of detail to record - so that when each application or website is visited for the first time, the user can tag it, specify whether to
a) blacklist this time. i.e. don't record any data on this visit to website or application, but prompt again next time.
b) blacklist permanently (never record data for this website or application again.
c) record top level domain (or app) name, date, and usage times only
d) as option 'b' but also record url data of pages under the domain (beyond just top level of domain name)...I guess the equivalent of saying "whitelist this time".
e) whitelist permanently (though this could still be manually changed through the settings rather than training mode).

For options d and e: In the case of applications, this may involve more detailed data than just app name (window title perhaps), but I can't imagine wanting any more data collected from myself, and can't currently see enough detail in your privacy policy to know what else you collect at the moment.
...depending on what else you feel may be useful data, there could be additional options to select further levels of data being logged.

7. Any setting changes applied by the user should NOT revert back to a less private default upon program restart (this would remedy the current concern I have with logging being resumed when I restart my PC even though I have disabled it - the likelihood of forgetting to do this is high).

These are the minimum I would require to be fully comfortable, in the absence of an offline version. The below is a nice to have:

8. Log uploads to your servers to be manually scheduleable separately to other privacy settings, or remain Manual as per the default setting - e.g. even if the "low privacy" profile is selected for data logging - uploading could still be manually managed if the user wants.

I would certainly love to use the application once it has these precautions in place, and would happily submit detailed reports of any bugs I come across; to help you improve it.