Google Analytics and Privacy Policies
Submitted by Larry Cannell on Sat, 11/19/2005 - 20:26.
I have been looking into Google Analytics to help with our local sports association website. We use League Lineup to manage all of South Farmington's Baseball and Softball leagues. Parents use the site to find practice and game schedules, directions to fields, enter games results, and standings.
We first used it last year and it was very successful. Antecdotal feedback from parents has been all positive and the web traffic we saw convinced us to upgrade our site to include banner ads from our sponsors. Now, I hate online ads, particularly those nasty pop-under kind that happen when using Internet Explorer. But, these League Lineup ads are tastefully insert into the same spot on every page AND they come from local businesses that are supporting youth sports in the community. These are not your standard internet ads. They come from local businesses and are intended for local families.
Unfortunately, League Lineup's banner ad service does not provide any click-through data that we could use to determine the success of the program and to provide our sponsors. So I was excited about the launch of Google Analytics. The price is right for a non-profit (free) and it appears to be just what the doctor ordered. Even with the trouble Google experienced this week launching the service I am still excited about the possibility of this service solving a real problem for us.
However, Fredrik Wacka, over at CorporateBlogging.Info points out an issue that I never thought about but will definitely cause a stir on the 'net. Here is what Fredik says:
This is another case of law playing catch-up with technology. I checked Google's privacy policies and I see nothing that addresses this issue. They only address how they use information about users of Google services. Google must have known about this before launching GA. Why didn't they address this beforehand?
Between the launch problems and these potentially huge privacy issues, Google is starting to look more like a company of mere mortals rather than the visionaries we have been hearing about.
We first used it last year and it was very successful. Antecdotal feedback from parents has been all positive and the web traffic we saw convinced us to upgrade our site to include banner ads from our sponsors. Now, I hate online ads, particularly those nasty pop-under kind that happen when using Internet Explorer. But, these League Lineup ads are tastefully insert into the same spot on every page AND they come from local businesses that are supporting youth sports in the community. These are not your standard internet ads. They come from local businesses and are intended for local families.
Unfortunately, League Lineup's banner ad service does not provide any click-through data that we could use to determine the success of the program and to provide our sponsors. So I was excited about the launch of Google Analytics. The price is right for a non-profit (free) and it appears to be just what the doctor ordered. Even with the trouble Google experienced this week launching the service I am still excited about the possibility of this service solving a real problem for us.
However, Fredrik Wacka, over at CorporateBlogging.Info points out an issue that I never thought about but will definitely cause a stir on the 'net. Here is what Fredik says:
According to Swedish and European Union law, it's illegal to set
cookies without telling people on the site that you do, what they're
used for and how they can be avoided.
Google Analytics, GA, does set cookies. What information they collect from your visitors is impossible to know (one of the cookies is valid until 2038, though...). When a lot of people, among them probably many bloggers, start using GA they will in fact break the law unless they warn their visitors. And how many will do that?
There's been a lot of discussion about this in Sweden today. It is very relevant. I assume that the same discussion is relevant for all other remote stats services -- but, as always with Google, their services become huge.
Considering that European police forces probably won't be doing raids to catch bloggers that don't warn about cookies, I think that an equally important discussion is what these cookies do. What information are we providing Google with?
Google Analytics, GA, does set cookies. What information they collect from your visitors is impossible to know (one of the cookies is valid until 2038, though...). When a lot of people, among them probably many bloggers, start using GA they will in fact break the law unless they warn their visitors. And how many will do that?
There's been a lot of discussion about this in Sweden today. It is very relevant. I assume that the same discussion is relevant for all other remote stats services -- but, as always with Google, their services become huge.
Considering that European police forces probably won't be doing raids to catch bloggers that don't warn about cookies, I think that an equally important discussion is what these cookies do. What information are we providing Google with?
This is another case of law playing catch-up with technology. I checked Google's privacy policies and I see nothing that addresses this issue. They only address how they use information about users of Google services. Google must have known about this before launching GA. Why didn't they address this beforehand?
Between the launch problems and these potentially huge privacy issues, Google is starting to look more like a company of mere mortals rather than the visionaries we have been hearing about.
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