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I think its a big mistake to lump this type of "tracking" in with more involved "tracking" where particular users are followed around from site to site to serve

I think its a big mistake to lump this type of "tracking" in with more involved "tracking" where particular users are followed around from site to site to serve up ads based on what the user has looked at recently. These are massively different things. Maybe you are opposed to both types of tracking - I dunno. Personally, I have no issue with a website keeping track of the things that they claim to keep track of (https://simpleanalytics.io/what-we-collect https://simpleanalytics.io/what-we-collect). However, when tracking means that a user does a search for something like "maternity" on one site and then starts getting ads for baby diapers on another - that feels like something that I understand why someone would want to avoid.

dylz 8y ago
Sure - I see nothing wrong with separating out the categories. There are different types and different levels. End of the day, at least in my opinion, it is acceptable to be added to blocklists, and it is acceptable to not use those blocklists and hit the beacon.
luckylion 8y ago
I agree, there's tracking and there's counting. SimpleAnalytics appears to just count hits, but doesn't track users - no cookies set, no browser fingerprinting. Sure, we have to trust in them really not storing IPs etc, but it does look good. Not tracking users, only global site usage.
cm2187 8y ago
Even if I kind of agree in principle, what you are asking me is to trust what the provider claims it will do with this data. It’s an industry that I just do not trust, even if I had the appetite to do the due diligence which I don’t. Even if I knew the guy and was convinced he had good intentions, he might still get hacked or acquired and the data used some other way in the future. Therefore I expect my blocker to block a 3rd party tracker which by definition has the capability to track me across websites. It makes that kind of tracking technically infeasible which is the level of protection I want.
- throwaway-hn123 8y ago
  just stop using the web then, you fucking boring autistic asshole
layoutIfNeeded 8y ago
We can bikeshed about the peculiarities of tracking all day long, but I don’t want any kind of tracking. Period. I already provide all the necessary data in my request to the first party server. It’s all in the server logs.

dylz 8y ago

Sure - I see nothing wrong with separating out the categories. There are different types and different levels. End of the day, at least in my opinion, it is acceptable to be added to blocklists, and it is acceptable to not use those blocklists and hit the beacon.

luckylion 8y ago

I agree, there's tracking and there's counting. SimpleAnalytics appears to just count hits, but doesn't track users - no cookies set, no browser fingerprinting. Sure, we have to trust in them really not storing IPs etc, but it does look good. Not tracking users, only global site usage.

cm2187 8y ago

Even if I kind of agree in principle, what you are asking me is to trust what the provider claims it will do with this data. It’s an industry that I just do not trust, even if I had the appetite to do the due diligence which I don’t. Even if I knew the guy and was convinced he had good intentions, he might still get hacked or acquired and the data used some other way in the future. Therefore I expect my blocker to block a 3rd party tracker which by definition has the capability to track me across websites. It makes that kind of tracking technically infeasible which is the level of protection I want.

throwaway-hn123 8y ago
just stop using the web then, you fucking boring autistic asshole

layoutIfNeeded 8y ago

We can bikeshed about the peculiarities of tracking all day long, but I don’t want any kind of tracking. Period. I already provide all the necessary data in my request to the first party server. It’s all in the server logs.