I see. I read the PR you linked and have to partially agree. Yes the maintainer's reaction was rude and seemed much like an overreaction. However the original comment could also be seen as offensive and lecturing.
I don't want to defend phone-home mechanisms because I am personally not a fan but an update check really is different from surveillance. I in general agree with the comment that the feature should be opt-in but the argument was not presented in a good way.
