[Repo-criteria-discuss] Should the "extra credit" really be extra?

[Niels Nesse]

I recently discovered the "GNU ethical repository criteria" page. I am 
very happy that this issue is being addressed. There has been too much 
apathy about the practices of hosts by free software developers.

I do have one issue with the way the criteria are structured however. I 
think use of an "extra credit" section undervalues the privacy issues 
addressed in that section. I can think of many ways a host could abuse 
data collected about me (without using tracking cookies) that would make 
me not even want to put the provider in a "Good" category. I'd suggest 
removing this category and distribute it's concerns throughout the 
sections. You could grade providers based on how transparent their 
privacy policy is, how much information they track, how often it is 
purged, etc. You should have to have an excellent approach to user 
privacy to get an "A", a good approach to privacy to get a "B", etc.

Regards,
Niels