Relevant snippet:
We’re now adding the option to allow the collection of detailed code‑related data pertaining to IDE activity, such as edit history, terminal usage, and your interactions with AI features. This may include code snippets, prompt text, and AI responses.
Comment:
So if I accidentally Cmd+V a slightly-sensitive string into my IDE, I now have to consider that string compromised? Even if I’m just doing some local testing? If I paste someone’s name in, that’s potentially me causing a data breach? What?
Apparently, Emacs doesn’t do that. Nor does vi, kate, kdevelop…
What does Ctrl+V even do in emacs or vi?
You can copy text in any editor, you know.
I am fully aware of that, I’m just curious what the specific key combination Ctrl+V does given their unusual (to me) interfaces :)
I don’t think ctrl-v does anything in Emacs. Not completely sure about vi, but I think nothing happens there either. (By default, that is)
In vim it’s visual block mode, which allows you to highlight a rectangle of characters. Original vi does not have that
In vim it invokes vertical visual selection (visual block mode)
Oh, right, it selects a rectangle, is that it?
I never really used that, it’s not a very common command. Maybe for tabulated data, but that’s not something I’d edit with vi… (or vim, nowadays)
Yes sort of I think. I use it often when I want to edit multiple lines at the same time e.g. adding the same prefix at the beginning of every line or in the same cursor position on every line.
My company has been trying to switch to JetBrains for several months. Fun.
why? ide should be a personal choice
Unfortunately, many devs are too dumb to setup an IDE so having a main one makes maintainers’ lives much simpler.
“devs”
Because VisualStudio doesn’t like to play nice with our stack, especially the legacy stuff.
$1000 per year and it still can’t help but spy on you. Fuck these companies.
It’s opt-in for paid users. They are only monetizing free users, by default (opt-out, for them).
Even some free users aren’t affected. EAP and community editions are treated the same as the paid versions. It’s only the noncommercial licenses of the paid tools that are affected by this. Those users also can’t disable the (admittedly less invasive) anonymous data collection feature, either - at least they can disable this one.
I don’t know if “monetizing” is the right term, though… are they selling this data? I had assumed it was intended solely for improving their own tooling. (Obviously that has a monetary value, too, but using that term if it’s only to make their own tools better feels inaccurate)
There is a profit motive behind everything tied to AI.
For now I guess. For both tiers.
free ultimate users (those who get ultimate for free, e.g. students, educators), free users using community editions can also opt-in
Oh thats much less bad but still bad.
That’s not even less bad, that’s totally reasonable. If you use free shit that isn’t open source, they are going to monetize you somehow.
If you like a product and don’t want them to use your data to make money, then pay for it.
This is beyond monetizing, this is IP theft. They are only getting away with it because capitalism.
I mean, would IP even exist in a non capitalist system?
Good point, but the gist is that our system is fucked up because corporations get to steal work to make profits off it. This is more like copyright. And yes, protecting creative work to a certain degree while not overreaching is really tricky.
Meanwhile their IDE is riddled with bugs and makes me work 100% faster and 90% slower because of the bullshit it causes
yep. fuck these companies.
So they are asking coders to train an AI to take away jobs from coders?
Anyone see the flaw there?
Kate will never do this to you. Kate is great.
Stating that this is on by default is misleading. If you or your company pay for the product or if you use the open source (“community”) or EAP version of it, it’s disabled by default.
The option is only enabled by default in one very specific use case:
We are asking our users to help with this, and here’s how it works:
- For companies: Admins can enable data sharing at a company-wide level. To support early adopters, we’re offering a limited number of free All Products Pack subscriptions to organizations willing to participate while we explore this program. For companies that are not willing to opt in to the program, nothing changes, and as always, admins are in control.
- For individuals on non-commercial licenses: Data sharing is enabled by default, but you can turn it off anytime in the settings.
- For individuals using commercial licenses, free trials, free community licenses, or EAP builds: Nothing changes. You can still opt in via the settings if you are willing to share data with JetBrains (and your admins, if any, allow it).
For reference, the non-commercial licenses are the full, commercial versions of the IDE provided “at no cost for education, hobby projects, and open-source work.” The risk of entering confidential data into your IDE that could then get collected is much lower for these use cases… though still not zero.
Do those users get a notification of this change when installing an update? If not, that’s concerning. But if they do, and can then quickly opt out if desired, then this really seems like a non-issue. This is especially true since JetBrains makes it clear that being able to anonymously collect data is the reason they’re able to offer those products for free; thus why users on those licenses cannot opt out of that anonymous data collection.
It’s pretty clear that JetBrains is saying “We would like your data so we can improve our product; if you’re okay with that, we’ll let you use our tools for free.” And they also have options, free and paid, where you don’t have to give up your data. Seems like a reasonable trade for a person to be able to make to me.
I just checked our JB account.
It was on by default for all my users.
(I disabled it).
Interesting. Where did you go to see that? Did you have anonymous data collection enabled, by chance? I wonder if they tied enabling it to that setting by mistake or if something else is going on… Just to confirm, do you have a noncommercial account or is it corporate?
Assuming it’s corporate - if you haven’t already, can you report that to JetBrains? What you described is out of line with what they published. I would expect them to take it seriously as I would expect their corporate customers to be very unhappy about this, if it impacted them.
Just to do my own due diligence - I have a personal “All Products Pack” license. Of the tools installed, only Datagrip has an update to 2025.2.4 available (the version where this data collection was added). When I opened it for the first time, I was prompted to “Help Us Improve Full Line Code Completion.” I clicked “Don’t Send,” then confirmed that everything was unchecked in Settings > Appearance & Behavior > System Settings > Data Sharing. So for individual users, at least in my case, it seems it’s behaving as described.
Do you work for Jet brains?
No, but I do know how to read.
How is this not blatant copyright violation?
it’s opt-in
and potential security violation.
Imagine writing code for a PCI compliant platform, only to find out the keys you used in your .env file have been scanned and sent to their model.
AI is cancer.
stay the fuck away from it.
Watch this quick guide on how to humanely put down your dying IDE
that IDE should have already been on your company’s non use list anyway
For what reason? (as if this wasn’t enough)
Russian spyware
I thought they’re a Czech company headquartered in Amsterdam
Yes, I work with people who have worked directly with the people at JetBrains. From what I know they are very friendly very western people. I can’t imagine them being involved with Russia in any way.
I can also find zero sources online about this. The closest is Russia using security vulnerabilities in JetBrains software, as they do with all software. Security vulnerabilities that were handled appropriately by JetBrains.
There is however a very public statement from JetBrains about Russia and Ukraine stating they’ve pulled out of Russia. They got their people out and stopped anything they did there. Including work on a new campus they already put money into.
Long story short, JetBrains are good people creating useful tools. That dude made the whole thing up for unknown reasons.
you literally found the reason, it was not made up and it was banned
far as i know ban has not been lifted
Can you give some sources for that? First time I heard of it and I would like to know the details.
no
i’m not giving you anything more than you could find with a google search
You made the claim. Back it up. Maybe where you read it is a bullshit source.
no, lol i don’t care what you think
That’s fine. It just shows your claims are baseless which works for me.
