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So... the report says 0 spanish websites were found having trackers. I've tried 3 random links of said websites, all taken from the report [1-3]. Ublock detect

So... the report says 0 spanish websites were found having trackers. I've tried 3 random links of said websites, all taken from the report [1-3]. Ublock detected and blocked google analytics in all of them ([1] has urchin.js too). [1] http://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/Paginas/index.aspx http://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/Paginas/index.aspx [2] https://www.riojasalud.es/ciudadanos/problemas-de-salud/30-enfermedades-de-transmision-sexual https://www.riojasalud.es/ciudadanos/problemas-de-salud/30-e... [3] http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/servicioandaluzdesalud/principal/noticia.asp?codcontenido=17319 http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/servicioandaluzdesalud/princi...

robador51 8y ago
Analytics is not the same as ad tracking
- sverige 8y ago
  What is it that they need to analyze that they can't get from their own servers?
  - codezero 8y ago
    This is a good question to which there are a lot of good answers that are often poorly received on HN so you’re unlikely to get a solid answer. I’ll take the hit though. It’s not just pageview logs, but GA has great tools to analyze those logs, do reporting on some decent set of actions and to bring it all together in a simple to use interface. You can take your server logs and then what will a non technical person do with them? Not much. That said, you can deploy GA while opting out of behavioral data and ad network features, and even fuzz ip addresses. Analytics has the stigma of ad networks because they historically existed to validate ad spend. We’re past that point and they are often used with strict first-party intent. There’s nothing preventing us from imagining all the malicious things any analytics tool could do, and imaginations run wild. Disclosure: I work for an analytics company that doesn’t want to own your data, but I understand why folks have a knee jerk reaction to analytics of any kind.
    - sverige 8y ago
      That's actually a much more reasonable answer than the one I had imagined. The unfortunate part is that I don't trust anyone not to misuse the data, especially not government employees.
      - arcticbull 8y ago
        Interesting, the 'especially from government employees' bit feels like a very US-centric reaction. In many other places in the world people just kinda trust their governments. I have no problem with any European government collecting analytics data.
        dmichulke 8y ago
        I disagree, as always the US is just 10 years ahead (so it will come to us as well, just later) and there are numerous law initiatives that show to what extent your privacy and freedom of expression is a concern of politicians.
        Dahoon 8y ago
        >I disagree, as always the US is just 10 years ahead At the same time the US is 10 years behind. GDPR is far ahead of anything the US has. Gun control is 50+ years ahead and lets not try to count years in social security nets or healthcare for the non-rich (or health in itself for that matter). In average I'd say the US is behind the curve and falling further by the day, especially now China has become a semi-great soon to be superpower.
        scarejunba 8y ago
        Any European government? https://rsf.org/en/news/romania-tries-use-gdpr-force-journalists-reveal-sources https://rsf.org/en/news/romania-tries-use-gdpr-force-journal...
        arcticbull 8y ago
        Yeah it’s just analytics data. I trust every shady website I’ve ever visited with what I click on, why should a government service (provided by the government to me in the public good) be any different? What could they possibly get from that the census bureau doesn’t have? The tax authority?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - dbrgn 8y ago
    What do people use for server side analytics? I've seen recommendations for Matomo, Countly and Fathom, but those are all JS based.
- radium3d 8y ago
  Technically Google Analytics tracking code can be used for Google AdWords ad conversion tracking :)
- auslander 8y ago
  > Analytics is not the same as ad tracking It is, when analytics infrastructure is provided by an ad company (Google Analytics)
  - judge2020 8y ago
    GA can be used for tracking ad conversions, but (they say) it does not, in itself, push data to Google's ad business. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245 https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245
    - auslander 8y ago
      Where does it say it does not? I found opposite statement in Data Access: "Internal access to data (e.g., by employees) is limited ... to only those with a business need to access it."
      - judge2020 8y ago
        Under "Data Collected by Google Analytics": > Where customers use Google Analytics Advertising Features, Google advertising cookies are collected and used to enable features like Remarketing on the Google Display Network. If you just use GA on a site, without ads, none of the data is funneled into Ad targeting for the user.

robador51 8y ago

Analytics is not the same as ad tracking

sverige 8y ago
What is it that they need to analyze that they can't get from their own servers?
- codezero 8y ago
  This is a good question to which there are a lot of good answers that are often poorly received on HN so you’re unlikely to get a solid answer. I’ll take the hit though. It’s not just pageview logs, but GA has great tools to analyze those logs, do reporting on some decent set of actions and to bring it all together in a simple to use interface. You can take your server logs and then what will a non technical person do with them? Not much. That said, you can deploy GA while opting out of behavioral data and ad network features, and even fuzz ip addresses. Analytics has the stigma of ad networks because they historically existed to validate ad spend. We’re past that point and they are often used with strict first-party intent. There’s nothing preventing us from imagining all the malicious things any analytics tool could do, and imaginations run wild. Disclosure: I work for an analytics company that doesn’t want to own your data, but I understand why folks have a knee jerk reaction to analytics of any kind.
  - sverige 8y ago
    That's actually a much more reasonable answer than the one I had imagined. The unfortunate part is that I don't trust anyone not to misuse the data, especially not government employees.
    - arcticbull 8y ago
      Interesting, the 'especially from government employees' bit feels like a very US-centric reaction. In many other places in the world people just kinda trust their governments. I have no problem with any European government collecting analytics data.
      - dmichulke 8y ago
        I disagree, as always the US is just 10 years ahead (so it will come to us as well, just later) and there are numerous law initiatives that show to what extent your privacy and freedom of expression is a concern of politicians.
        Dahoon 8y ago
        >I disagree, as always the US is just 10 years ahead At the same time the US is 10 years behind. GDPR is far ahead of anything the US has. Gun control is 50+ years ahead and lets not try to count years in social security nets or healthcare for the non-rich (or health in itself for that matter). In average I'd say the US is behind the curve and falling further by the day, especially now China has become a semi-great soon to be superpower.
      - scarejunba 8y ago
        Any European government? https://rsf.org/en/news/romania-tries-use-gdpr-force-journalists-reveal-sources https://rsf.org/en/news/romania-tries-use-gdpr-force-journal...
        arcticbull 8y ago
        Yeah it’s just analytics data. I trust every shady website I’ve ever visited with what I click on, why should a government service (provided by the government to me in the public good) be any different? What could they possibly get from that the census bureau doesn’t have? The tax authority?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- dbrgn 8y ago
  What do people use for server side analytics? I've seen recommendations for Matomo, Countly and Fathom, but those are all JS based.
radium3d 8y ago
Technically Google Analytics tracking code can be used for Google AdWords ad conversion tracking :)
auslander 8y ago
> Analytics is not the same as ad tracking It is, when analytics infrastructure is provided by an ad company (Google Analytics)
- judge2020 8y ago
  GA can be used for tracking ad conversions, but (they say) it does not, in itself, push data to Google's ad business. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245 https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245
  - auslander 8y ago
    Where does it say it does not? I found opposite statement in Data Access: "Internal access to data (e.g., by employees) is limited ... to only those with a business need to access it."
    - judge2020 8y ago
      Under "Data Collected by Google Analytics": > Where customers use Google Analytics Advertising Features, Google advertising cookies are collected and used to enable features like Remarketing on the Google Display Network. If you just use GA on a site, without ads, none of the data is funneled into Ad targeting for the user.