OS downloaders and bootable USB tools
balenaEtcher privacy rating
A cross-platform app from balena that writes OS images to SD cards and USB drives and validates the written data.
Summary
balenaEtcher scores 40 out of 100 (grade D) on the OS downloaders and bootable USB tools criteria. It meets 1 of 4 criteria: open source. It partly meets no ads or data sales. It does not meet no trackers or telemetry and independent audit. It is based in the United Kingdom: Five Eyes member; GDPR-style data protection law; CLOUD Act data access agreement with the US.
Score 40 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
- Yes
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No
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
Error reporting to balena through Sentry is on by default and can be turned off. The website loads Google Analytics, Amplitude and LinkedIn tracking.
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Partial
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
The app shows balena project banners while flashing. Balena shares data with advertising partners to market its own services and states it does not sell personal information.
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No
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
No independent audit is published.