http://www.marteydodoo.com/2005/12/28/on-traffic-and-audience-and-a-number-of-other-things/ Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:36:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://www.marteydodoo.com/2005/12/28/on-traffic-and-audience-and-a-number-of-other-things/#comment-8027 MarteyDodoo.com » Privacy & Google Analytics Wed, 03 May 2006 06:55:05 +0000 http://www.marteydodoo.com/2005/12/28/on-traffic-and-audience-and-a-number-of-other-things/#comment-8027 [...] Sometime last December (around the time I was writing about website traffic), I deleted AWStats, the log analysis program which told me which pages on this website were the most popular, who was linking to the site, etc. In order to solve my website statistics fix, I signed up for Google Analytics, the website statistics program derived from Google that was previously Urchin. Since it was a couple of months after Google Analytics was introduced, I was put on a waiting list. Sometime in late March, I ran across an essay suggesting that Google Analytics had serious privacy issues. The most pertinent issues in my mind were the possibilities that Google could use the data collected in Analytics for nefarious purposes and the fact that Google Analytics used the default Google.com privacy policy and terms of service, as opposed to one customized to the needs of Analytics users. This concerned me enough that I emailed the Google Analytics support staff. I received this response: Google takes data privacy very seriously and we recognize that it is important to our users and customers. Only Google Analytics account owners and those to whom they give permission may access their reporting data. Google support and client services specialists may access reporting data for the purposes of customer support. [...] [...] Sometime last December (around the time I was writing about website traffic), I deleted AWStats, the log analysis program which told me which pages on this website were the most popular, who was linking to the site, etc. In order to solve my website statistics fix, I signed up for Google Analytics, the website statistics program derived from Google that was previously Urchin. Since it was a couple of months after Google Analytics was introduced, I was put on a waiting list. Sometime in late March, I ran across an essay suggesting that Google Analytics had serious privacy issues. The most pertinent issues in my mind were the possibilities that Google could use the data collected in Analytics for nefarious purposes and the fact that Google Analytics used the default Google.com privacy policy and terms of service, as opposed to one customized to the needs of Analytics users. This concerned me enough that I emailed the Google Analytics support staff. I received this response: Google takes data privacy very seriously and we recognize that it is important to our users and customers. Only Google Analytics account owners and those to whom they give permission may access their reporting data. Google support and client services specialists may access reporting data for the purposes of customer support. [...]

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