Why is the output of Device Status Report sent to the standard input instead of output?

On Wikipedia [it is explained](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code) that "Device Status Report" is an ANSI control sequence that "[r]eports the cursor position (CPR) by transmitting ESC[n;mR, where n is the row and m is the column". So, in MATE Terminal, in Bash, if I do

echo -ne '\e[6n'

then I get ;1R. It looks like a part of the response that Wikipedia describes. If I then add read like

echo -ne '\e[6n' ; read

then I get ^[[2;1R. I have it where I would expect to provide input. I conclude that this is the proper output of Device Status Report, and that it is being sent to the standard input. **What are the reasons that it is sent to the standard input and not output?** I find this behavior unintuitive. If I would like to know the position of the cursor, ideally I'd have it on the standard output. Like, I could then assign it to a variable easily. Does it play a role that the control sequence is called "Device Status Report" and not "Cursor Position Report"? I see there are multiple questions here regarding Device Status Report, but I cannot find any that would answer this question. If there is, I'd appreciate a link.