diff --git a/cmd/gotelemetry/doc.go b/cmd/gotelemetry/doc.go
index 6956664..9630607 100644
--- a/cmd/gotelemetry/doc.go
+++ b/cmd/gotelemetry/doc.go
@@ -12,8 +12,9 @@
 //
 // The commands are:
 //
-//	on	enable telemetry uploading
-//	off	disable telemetry uploading
+//	on	enable telemetry collection and uploading
+//	local	enable telemetry collection but disable uploading
+//	off	disable telemetry collection and uploading
 //	view	run a web viewer for local telemetry data
 //	env	print the current telemetry environment
 //
diff --git a/cmd/gotelemetry/main.go b/cmd/gotelemetry/main.go
index 41865d6..0a871c1 100644
--- a/cmd/gotelemetry/main.go
+++ b/cmd/gotelemetry/main.go
@@ -41,25 +41,39 @@ var (
 	normalCommands = []*command{
 		{
 			usage: "on",
-			short: "enable telemetry uploading",
-			long: `Gotelemetry on enables telemetry uploading.
+			short: "enable telemetry collection and uploading",
+			long: `Gotelemetry on enables telemetry collection and uploading.
 
-When telemetry is enabled, telemetry data is periodically sent to https://telemetry.go.dev/. Uploaded data is used to help improve the Go toolchain and related tools, and it will be published as part of a public dataset.
+When telemetry is enabled, telemetry data is written to the local file system and periodically sent to https://telemetry.go.dev/. Uploaded data is used to help improve the Go toolchain and related tools, and it will be published as part of a public dataset.
 
 For more details, see https://telemetry.go.dev/privacy.
 This data is collected in accordance with the Google Privacy Policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy).
 
-To disable telemetry uploading, run “gotelemetry off”`,
+To disable telemetry uploading, but keep local data collection, run “gotelemetry local”.
+To disable both collection and uploading, run “gotelemetry off“.
+`,
 			run: runOn,
 		},
+		{
+			usage: "local",
+			short: "enable telemetry collection but disable uploading",
+			long: `Gotelemetry local enables telemetry collection but not uploading.
+
+When telemetry is in local mode, counter data is written to the local file system, but will not be uploaded to remote servers.
+
+To enable telemetry uploading, run “gotelemetry on”.
+To disable both collection and uploading, run “gotelemetry off”`,
+			run: runLocal,
+		},
 		{
 			usage: "off",
-			short: "disable telemetry uploading",
-			long: `Gotelemetry off disables telemetry uploading.
+			short: "disable telemetry collection and uploading",
+			long: `Gotelemetry off disables telemetry collection and uploading.
 
-When telemetry uploading is off, local counters data will still be written to the local file system, but will not be uploaded to remove servers.
+When telemetry is disabled, local counter data is neither collected nor uploaded.
 
-To enable telemetry uploading, run “gotelemetry on”`,
+To enable local collection (but not uploading) of telemetry data, run “gotelemetry local“.
+To enable both collection and uploading, run “gotelemetry on”.`,
 			run: runOff,
 		},
 		{
@@ -199,6 +213,15 @@ This data is collected in accordance with the Google Privacy Policy (https://pol
 To disable telemetry uploading, run “gotelemetry off”.`
 }
 
+func runLocal(_ []string) {
+	if old, _ := it.Mode(); old == "local" {
+		return
+	}
+	if err := it.SetMode("local"); err != nil {
+		failf("Failed to set the telemetry mode to local: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
 func runOff(_ []string) {
 	if old, _ := it.Mode(); old == "off" {
 		return
diff --git a/internal/counter/file.go b/internal/counter/file.go
index c7c1db0..d95073e 100644
--- a/internal/counter/file.go
+++ b/internal/counter/file.go
@@ -111,6 +111,9 @@ func (f *file) lookup(name string) counterPtr {
 	return counterPtr{current, ptr}
 }
 
+// ErrDisabled is the error returned when telemetry is disabled.
+var ErrDisabled = errors.New("counter: disabled by GOTELEMETRY=off")
+
 var (
 	errNoBuildInfo = errors.New("counter: missing build info")
 	errCorrupt     = errors.New("counter: corrupt counter file")
@@ -122,6 +125,10 @@ func (f *file) init(begin, end time.Time) {
 		f.err = errNoBuildInfo
 		return
 	}
+	if mode, _ := telemetry.Mode(); mode == "off" {
+		f.err = ErrDisabled
+		return
+	}
 	dir := telemetry.LocalDir
 
 	if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0777); err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/telemetry/mode.go b/internal/telemetry/mode.go
index 5e2b811..b461389 100644
--- a/internal/telemetry/mode.go
+++ b/internal/telemetry/mode.go
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func init() {
 }
 
 // SetMode updates the telemetry mode with the given mode.
-// Acceptable values for mode are "on" or "off".
+// Acceptable values for mode are "on", "off", or "local".
 //
 // SetMode always writes the mode file, and explicitly records the date at
 // which the modefile was updated. This means that calling SetMode with "on"
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ func (m ModeFilePath) SetMode(mode string) error {
 func (m ModeFilePath) SetModeAsOf(mode string, asofTime time.Time) error {
 	mode = strings.TrimSpace(mode)
 	switch mode {
-	case "on", "off":
+	case "on", "off", "local":
 	default:
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid telemetry mode: %q", mode)
 	}
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ func (m ModeFilePath) Mode() (string, time.Time) {
 	}
 	data, err := os.ReadFile(fname)
 	if err != nil {
-		return "off", time.Time{} // default
+		return "local", time.Time{} // default
 	}
 	mode := string(data)
 	mode = strings.TrimSpace(mode)
diff --git a/internal/telemetry/mode_test.go b/internal/telemetry/mode_test.go
index b80d5f3..ebde64b 100644
--- a/internal/telemetry/mode_test.go
+++ b/internal/telemetry/mode_test.go
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ func TestTelemetryModeWithNoModeConfig(t *testing.T) {
 		modefile ModeFilePath
 		want     string
 	}{
-		{ModeFilePath(filepath.Join(tmp, "mode")), "off"},
+		{ModeFilePath(filepath.Join(tmp, "mode")), "local"},
 		{"", "off"},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range tests {
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ func TestSetMode(t *testing.T) {
 	}{
 		{"on", false},
 		{"off", false},
-		{"local", true}, // golang/go#63143: local mode is no longer supported
+		{"local", false},
 		{"https://mytelemetry.com", true},
 		{"http://insecure.com", true},
 		{"bogus", true},
diff --git a/internal/upload/reports.go b/internal/upload/reports.go
index 4010303..be8c9b7 100644
--- a/internal/upload/reports.go
+++ b/internal/upload/reports.go
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ var (
 
 // reports generates reports from inactive count files
 func reports(todo *work) ([]string, error) {
+	if mode, _ := it.Mode(); mode == "off" {
+		return nil, nil // no reports
+	}
 	today := thisInstant.Format("2006-01-02")
 	lastWeek := latestReport(todo.uploaded)
 	if lastWeek >= today { //should never happen
diff --git a/mode.go b/mode.go
index 46c461b..f7c27d4 100644
--- a/mode.go
+++ b/mode.go
@@ -10,16 +10,17 @@ import (
 
 // Mode returns the current telemetry mode.
 //
-// The telemetry mode is a global value that controls the
-// uploading of telemetry data. Possible mode values are:
-//   - "on":    uploading is enabled
-//   - "off":   uploading is disabled
+// The telemetry mode is a global value that controls both the local collection
+// and uploading of telemetry data. Possible mode values are:
+//   - "on":    both collection and uploading is enabled
+//   - "local": collection is enabled, but uploading is disabled
+//   - "off":   both collection and uploading are disabled
 //
-// When mode is "off", local data is still written to the local file system and
-// may be inspected with the [gotelemetry] command.
+// When mode is "on", or "local", telemetry data is written to the local file
+// system and may be inspected with the [gotelemetry] command.
 //
 // If an error occurs while reading the telemetry mode from the file system,
-// Mode returns the default value "off".
+// Mode returns the default value "local".
 //
 // [gotelemetry]: https://pkg.go.dev/golang.org/x/telemetry/cmd/gotelemetry
 func Mode() string {