> "Telemetry" is not "spying" or "collecting personal information" or whatever else uninformed people like this blog author try to dramatize it as.

Whether or not telemetry counts as spying depends on whether or not informed consent was obtained before data is sent. If any data is collected about me, my machines, or my use of my machines, and I have not explicitly been told about and agreed to it first, then I'm being spied on.