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Yep... I understand that they aren't doing it for the primary purpose of "surveillance" or "tracking" -- the primary intention is advertising and analytics, of

Yep... I understand that they aren't doing it for the primary purpose of "surveillance" or "tracking" -- the primary intention is advertising and analytics, of course -- but I do feel this sort of thing is hypocritical. Hell, my blog has Google Analytics and such on it and so I feel like I'm a hypocritic since I use uBlock Origin (with quite restrictive settings). I do intend to remove the analytics/trackers at some point (actually, I plan to move to a completely static site and "redo" the whole thing -- I haven't even turned on HTTPS yet!), but I've been neglecting the site for years so there's a lot of work to do and, TBH, it really isn't very high on my priority list. I agree with the general premise of this tweet, though. If you're going to call out others for doing something (i.e. tracking users), you should first make sure that you aren't doing it the same thing. At the least, don't be a part of the very thing that you're bitching about.

Hoefner 9y ago
Self-hosted Piwik isn't an option?
gaius 9y ago
but I do feel this sort of thing is hypocritical Wait ‘til you find out where the Graun is based for tax purposes... Left-wing-ness is just a product that they sell. They don’t believe in it anymore than everyone in McDonald’s head office eats Big Macs every day...
- fulafel 9y ago
  They're centre-left, like the european social democractic mainstream, not against market economy. You should look elsewhere if you want a paper that doesn't bow to commercial interests.
  - gaius 9y ago
    Centre-left as in bleat about “our NHS” while dodging the taxes that pay for it.
TeMPOraL 9y ago
> Yep... I understand that they aren't doing it for the primary purpose of "surveillance" or "tracking" -- the primary intention is advertising and analytics, of course -- but I do feel this sort of thing is hypocritical. They might not be doing it for that purpose. They only help collect data in exchange for better ad service. The data lives on, however, and someone else uses it for surveillance and tracking.

Hoefner 9y ago

Self-hosted Piwik isn't an option?

gaius 9y ago

but I do feel this sort of thing is hypocritical Wait ‘til you find out where the Graun is based for tax purposes... Left-wing-ness is just a product that they sell. They don’t believe in it anymore than everyone in McDonald’s head office eats Big Macs every day...

fulafel 9y ago
They're centre-left, like the european social democractic mainstream, not against market economy. You should look elsewhere if you want a paper that doesn't bow to commercial interests.
- gaius 9y ago
  Centre-left as in bleat about “our NHS” while dodging the taxes that pay for it.

TeMPOraL 9y ago

> Yep... I understand that they aren't doing it for the primary purpose of "surveillance" or "tracking" -- the primary intention is advertising and analytics, of course -- but I do feel this sort of thing is hypocritical. They might not be doing it for that purpose. They only help collect data in exchange for better ad service. The data lives on, however, and someone else uses it for surveillance and tracking.