Balena
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Software Development |
| Official website | https://www.balena.io/ |
Balena (formerly known as Resin.io) provides a platform focused on DevOps management for servers, clients, and local cross platform device software. It also offers tools for updating, deploying and maintaining code bases (though that is mainly targeted at Linux).
Consumer-impact summary
Balena has been one of the more big companies that has open sourced most if not all products for users to tinker with. But more recently they have resorted to more sneaky tactics for profit. Such violations include:
- Breach of user trust
- Adding adware to it's services
- Leveraging it's reach to the vulnerable tech illiterate
Incidents
Balena Etcher Collecting data on users drive and filename being flashed (2018)[1]
In as early as 2018 Balena has found itself in hot water over gathering specific user telemetry on their software Balena Etcher without consent.[2] Specific information includes IP address, usb device info and the filename being flashed being sold to their 3rd party AD network partners compromising users privacy and trust for profit. Many other privacy focused open sourced groups that have relied on etcher like Tails have completely removed recommendation of using Balena Etcher to install their operating system.[3] While there are many alternatives to Balena Etcher they tend to be a bit less user friendly and likely are not cross platform. Making them the de-facto choice among non tech literate users that are being taken advantage of.
Balena Modifies their privacy policy after user backlash[4][5]
(Currently under review at this time it is set up for now to compare changes as their privacy policy has not changed since April 1st of 2020 but for some reason has recently changed in March 27th 2025)
Products
Balena Etcher (2016)
Formerly known as Etcher; Balena Etcher is a free open source tool that flashes image files. it has recently had some controversial stir around how it collects user data within it's app. Many users have started using other software to flash image files such as GNOME Disk, Rufus, DD (bash command), and the Disk Utility (Mainly for mac) that work without selling the consumer out.
See also
References
- ↑ Switched to Linux (2025-03-08). "WARNING - Etcher Sends PII To Third Parties - YouTube". Youtube.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ sneak (2018-02-18). "etcher spies on the user without consent · Issue #2057 · balena-io/etcher". Github Issues. Retrieved 2025-03-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Tails - Replacing balenaEtcher with Rufus as installer for Windows". Tails. 2025-02-19. Retrieved 2025-03-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Old Privacy Statement - balena". Balena. 2020-04-01. Retrieved 2025-04-01.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Privacy Statement - balena". Balena. 2025-03-27. Retrieved 2025-04-01.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)