[nathanlied]

When was it not? Telemetry - the act of collecting logs/"metrics" and reporting them back to a remote (tele) station - how could this not be considered telemetry?

[davidw]

It has only been called that recently in the context of software.

Edit: have been doing software since the mid-nineties. You can downvote all you want, but this is a more recent usage.

[AnonCoward42]

Actually the name for it previously was spyware or the act of spying. The term telemetry is/was more neutral, but it also has a bad reputation by now (euphemism treadmill).