4 ms·

don't think Google should give end users a way to bypass the wishes of a site owner You don't think users should have control over their own property? If some

don't think Google should give end users a way to bypass the wishes of a site owner You don't think users should have control over their own property? If someone is using my site, I believe I have the right to have access to certain usage information. You have the right to ask for that information. You have no right to compel the user to answer.

deleted 16y ago
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ErrantX 16y ago
You don't think users should have control over their own property? Oh, come on there is a limit. I mean; the only reason this is big news is because Google supplies a lot of sites with analytics. If a site uses another service then this opt out is useless (in terms of them not being tracked). Additionally they are providing all this data to the site directly - Google is just the aggregator some webmasters choose. This is, in fact, about people preferring Google not having their information. Which is a fair enough point (if I visit XYZ.com I don't implicitly agree to provide my data to Google). I think there is a fair gentlemans agreement in place; whereby website owners have a "reasonable expectation" to be able to see what kind of users are accessing a site. If we start calling that personal information I suspect it will start to turn into a Mexican stand off of users hiding data and webmasters trying to sneak it out of them :) A friend of mine pointed out a useful metaphor: it is like a customer dressing in baggy clothing, using a ski mask and voice modulator and then sneaking into a shop to buy something with gold pieces - because they don't want to provide demographics to the shop owner. Sure it is their right; but it also doesn't benefit anyone :)
gyardley 16y ago
You have the right to ask for that information. You have no right to compel the user to answer. The user has no right to view the site owner's content. The site owner therefore has the right to make provision of analytics data a prerequisite for access to content. No one's bothered to do so because the proportion of people who opt-out is currently quite small.
- orangecat 16y ago
  The site owner therefore has the right to make provision of analytics data a prerequisite for access to content. Agreed. I just object to the imputation that it's wrong to provide users with the ability to not provide that data if they so choose.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

ErrantX 16y ago

You don't think users should have control over their own property? Oh, come on there is a limit. I mean; the only reason this is big news is because Google supplies a lot of sites with analytics. If a site uses another service then this opt out is useless (in terms of them not being tracked). Additionally they are providing all this data to the site directly - Google is just the aggregator some webmasters choose. This is, in fact, about people preferring Google not having their information. Which is a fair enough point (if I visit XYZ.com I don't implicitly agree to provide my data to Google). I think there is a fair gentlemans agreement in place; whereby website owners have a "reasonable expectation" to be able to see what kind of users are accessing a site. If we start calling that personal information I suspect it will start to turn into a Mexican stand off of users hiding data and webmasters trying to sneak it out of them :) A friend of mine pointed out a useful metaphor: it is like a customer dressing in baggy clothing, using a ski mask and voice modulator and then sneaking into a shop to buy something with gold pieces - because they don't want to provide demographics to the shop owner. Sure it is their right; but it also doesn't benefit anyone :)

gyardley 16y ago

You have the right to ask for that information. You have no right to compel the user to answer. The user has no right to view the site owner's content. The site owner therefore has the right to make provision of analytics data a prerequisite for access to content. No one's bothered to do so because the proportion of people who opt-out is currently quite small.

orangecat 16y ago
The site owner therefore has the right to make provision of analytics data a prerequisite for access to content. Agreed. I just object to the imputation that it's wrong to provide users with the ability to not provide that data if they so choose.