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+# Responsibly managing telemetry in external components
+
+Many components are _delivered_ with or by the .NET SDK but want to collect and
+manage telemetry. The SDK has telemetry collection mechanisms that may appear
+attractive, but present down-sides for these authors.
+
+This document clarifies some guidelines for authors of components that are consumed by the .NET SDK but want to own their own telemetry.
+
+## Sending telemetry
+
+### DO create and manage your own MSBuild Task for sending telemetry
+
+This allows you to have full control over the telemetry you send, where it is
+sent, and any PII masking requirements that are unique to your product.
+Attempting to use the .NET SDK's `AllowEmptyTelemetry` mechanism is not
+recommended for most internal partners and all external users. This is because
+`AllowEmptyTelemetry`
+  * is allow-listed for known events only, so your telemetry will not be sent
+  * sends to the SDK's telemetry storage, which your team may not have access to
+  * is dependent on the SDK version the user uses, which may lag behind the latest available
+
+### DO NOT use the MSBuild Engine telemetry APIs for logging telemetry
+
+These APIs, while convenient, require the MSBuild Engine Host (`dotnet build`,
+`msbuild.exe`, Visual Studio Project system) to have configured a telemetry
+collector. This is not guaranteed to be the case for all users of your component,
+and the collector configured may not send telemetry in the manner you expect, or
+to destinations you expect.
+
+## Managing telemetry
+
+### DO adhere to the SDK telemetry opt-out
+
+The SDK has an [opt out](https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/tools/telemetry#how-to-opt-out) mechanism for telemetry that all SDK-generated
+telemetry should adhere to. When running in the context of the SDK that means your
+telemetry should adhere to this signal as well. This opt-out mechanism is an
+environment variable, but the default value of this variable changes for
+Microsoft-authored and source-built SDKs. The SDK should provide a unified
+mechanism for tooling authors to rely on instead of probing for this value.