Banned In Germany!

[MichaelHiles]

Looks like the German .gov wants to go after companies that use Google Analytics to track site visitors, citing privacy concerns.

What a three ring circus.


Achtung! Google Analytics is illegal, say German government officials

[DogScout]

Guess I'll be banned too. Guess I'll have write off 82,000,000 out of almost 7 trillion, bummer.

[seasoned]

WOW, some of the people replying, in that article, pretend to know SO much, but are real IDIOTS! Google is ALL OVER, and people generally AREN'T asked about cookies, etc... Google is LARGE, and AGGREGATES data and sometimes can take your click, determine WHY you clicked, WHERE you clicked from, and WHO YOU ARE! It STARTS with data similar to a server log BUT, if anyone thinks that is even 1/10th of the type of data google collects, they have a screw loose, and probably should stay away from any outlets, batteries, or generators! HECK, maybe they should stay away from PHONES too!

So how much data DOES google collect?

1. clicks, IPS, domain names, urls(LIKE CLAIMED in that article), and some response codes.
2. The origin of nearly everything involved! So they can track that IP to a type of server, O/S, software, owner. They can track the person to maybe even their name, age, demographics, home, email accounts, and MAYBE even CREDIT CARDS!
3. They can get pictures of where the person lives.
4. They may even have email from the person.
5. They can interconnect nearly everything.

SAFE HARBOR!?!?!?!? They are DREAMING! Just think! GOOGLE, GMAIL, GOOGLE ANALYTICS, ADSENSE, GOOGLE PAY(or whatever it is called), their sattilite images, etc... And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Just one little cookie, or visits to susequent locations quickly with the same IP and NO cookie, and they can get a LOT!

Steve

[BIG Mike]

I guess the German Government doesn't track any private info about it's citizens, huh?

I've said it before - this whole privacy thing is ridiculously overblown.

Any business in the world worth it's salt is tracking everything it possibly can about it's customer's habits in respect to identifying trends to leverage in their promotions. IMHO, the information is not anything that isn't already publicly available to them and Google isn't doing anything different...just on a larger scale perhaps.

You want to know where I live? It's in the phone book, in online directories, WHOIS, etc.; no mysteries there. Want to see what my various businesses online and off earn? Just petition the Ministry of Finance...it's not a huge secret.

Credit card companies know everywhere I've traveled over the years, know my wife's spending habits very well (hell they send her gifts to keep her motivated to shop) and all my neighbors, family and associates probably know everything there is to know about us.

And if anyone were to really violate anything truly personal and private, it's going to be someone we know well...not Google or the government or the credit card companies.

There's nothing there to hide and nothing that matters if the rest of the world knows about it. If you choose to go out in public, then anything you do is publicly available - otherwise you'll spend your life hiding from everyone.

[ForeignProfessor]

Originally Posted by DogScout

Guess I'll be banned too. Guess I'll have write off 82,000,000 out of almost 7 trillion, bummer.

I don't know if it affects your stats much, but you're out by a factor of 1,000 =)

[ForeignProfessor]

Originally Posted by seasoned

WOW, some of the people replying, in that article, pretend to know SO much, but are real IDIOTS! Google is ALL OVER, and people generally AREN'T asked about cookies, etc... Google is LARGE, and AGGREGATES data and sometimes can take your click, determine WHY you clicked, WHERE you clicked from, and WHO YOU ARE! It STARTS with data similar to a server log BUT, if anyone thinks that is even 1/10th of the type of data google collects, they have a screw loose, and probably should stay away from any outlets, batteries, or generators! HECK, maybe they should stay away from PHONES too!

So how much data DOES google collect?

1. clicks, IPS, domain names, urls(LIKE CLAIMED in that article), and some response codes.
2. The origin of nearly everything involved! So they can track that IP to a type of server, O/S, software, owner. They can track the person to maybe even their name, age, demographics, home, email accounts, and MAYBE even CREDIT CARDS!
3. They can get pictures of where the person lives.
4. They may even have email from the person.
5. They can interconnect nearly everything.

SAFE HARBOR!?!?!?!? They are DREAMING! Just think! GOOGLE, GMAIL, GOOGLE ANALYTICS, ADSENSE, GOOGLE PAY(or whatever it is called), their sattilite images, etc... And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Just one little cookie, or visits to susequent locations quickly with the same IP and NO cookie, and they can get a LOT!

Steve

On the negative side, they might try and sell me things I want. (Oh, wait..)

Oh the positive side, they might offer me more accurate information when I search for information.

If I don't want to be served by people that want to sell to me, I think I should just move up to the Idaho panhandle and dig in.

[The Brian]

Google is building the matrix, and 100% transparency is the future... privacy be damned.

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by DogScout

Guess I'll be banned too. Guess I'll have write off 82,000,000 out of almost 7 trillion, bummer.

Originally Posted by ForeignProfessor

I don't know if it affects your stats much, but you're out by a factor of 1,000 =)

LOL. I was just about to ask where did the other 6,993,000,000,000 people come from.