So the claim that telemetry is used to improve products is simply a lie IMO.
The fact that telemetry is sent at all for no apparent reason and deliberately without clear consent is an ironic example of this. The fact that it's been happening more and more over the past decades as the OS'es evolved is another confirmation of it.
Still think it shouldn't be there by default - it reduces privacy and is a lame excuse not to do (paid) user studies.
Would it count as a paid user study if enabling telemetry for Windows knocked $10 off of the price of your computer?
I can’t decide if that’s a neat idea or dystopic. Which, historically, probably means it’s dystopic and that plenty of people are already doing it.
I think “traditional” paid user studies often suffer from the same sampling problems that make political polls and behavioral paid medical studies less useful (you’re not surveying the average voter; you’re surveying the average voter who likes to answer polls). But maybe the “$10 off” idea would capture a broad enough demographic as to be more useful.
You get sensitive data out of system settings, such as for instance health data: Does the user have a vision or hearing impairment, use assistive technologies etc.?