Number of download.

 In a similar vein, has anyone ever put any 'phone home' code in a
 package, so that authors can track usage? Something in the package
 startup code that pings a logging server, for example?

  Yes I know doing such a thing without telling the user and giving
 them an opt-out is evil.

Why would this be evil? For R, for example? I've already read some
objections to this on r-help, but I'm not sure I understand the
reasons. As long as the 'ping' happens once, at first start,
anonymously, and requires confirmation from the user, I do not see an
issue with the behaviour.

Regards
Liviu