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If your business is to track people, yes. If it's to gather statistics without tracking people (like page views), I think it perfectly fine to bypass ad blocker

If your business is to track people, yes. If it's to gather statistics without tracking people (like page views), I think it perfectly fine to bypass ad blockers. We even have a dedicated feature for bypassing ad blockers [1] because we think page views are not privacy invasive. We drop IP addresses from every request so there is no personal data in our database or logs. If you really want to block you can enable the Do Not Track setting. Although I think this should only be used when you are actually tracking people (we don't). So this feature might be removed in the future. It's already removed by Safari because it is another parameter to fingerprint a browser. [1] https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/bypass-ad-blockers https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/bypass-ad-blockers

xiaq 7y ago
The privacy game is about power, not about who is doing what right now. People shun Google's data collection because of what Google can do with the data, not what it has done or is doing; it only takes a single case of data misuse to reveal the power dynamics even if nothing has happened to them personally. You don't have to play the privacy game -- there is a lot of space between really respecting user's privacy and breaking privacy laws. But if you do, you should put the power back in the user's hand. (Disclaimer: I work for Google.)
- lioeters 7y ago
  Thank you for that comment. It means a lot that such a thoughtful consideration of privacy is coming from someone working at Google, there is hope yet for a humane approach to analytics and data collection.
- la_barba 7y ago
  I think it is fair to know exactly what data I'm giving up and what Google is doing with it, if I chose to exchange it for free services and goods. Hopefully someone with a spine comes to power and enacts some regulation allowing users to have a much clearer understanding of this. Also, people dislike Google for many things it has already done, not just because of an imagined future problem. Also.... nothing personal against you!
- kerng 7y ago
  There have been countless cases for me personally where Googles tracking is creepy. Like Google Map recommendations, YouTube videos I should watch, misleading ads that send the user to malware bases on interest Google has about them etc, as well as exposure of unauthenticated Google+ APIs that allowed access to sensitive data to name a few. I think saying nothing bad has happened is disingenuous. As soon as Google gets similar exposure as FB right now, internal whistleblowers might come forward also with more stories. Also, couple of years ago Google was thoroughly compromised by at least one foreign government, ever wonder how much data was stolen?
- harianus 7y ago
  https://twitter.com/randfish/status/1126892446925848578?s=21 https://twitter.com/randfish/status/1126892446925848578?s=21
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
hashedhashed 7y ago
Yeah, no. You are wrong and the fact that you provide services to go around adblockers makes you evil as fuck. Thanks for letting me know to block hello.js and hello.gif.
dx034 7y ago
I completely agree. I don't think Do not Track was ever about knowing how many visitors you have or the browser they use. That's basic knowledge needed to improve the site. Tracking becomes an issue if it's shared across pages and where personal data is collected without consent to sell it to the highest bidder.
notafraudster 7y ago
I don't think what you're doing is the end of the world, but answer this is extremely patronizing. You've basically said you know some users block your stuff, but you think they probably shouldn't really want to block your stuff, so you devise an end run around them. Then, finally, you conclude that if they really want to block your stuff, they should do something that you yourself admit won't block your stuff, but that's okay because they shouldn't want to block your stuff.
- jamiequint 7y ago
  I'm fine with people being patronizing towards whiny, entitled users who think they have a right to use any website they want on their terms. If you don't like someone running log analysis on their traffic then don't go to their website, nobody forced you to.
  - jononor 7y ago
    How exactly does one know which websites will do this and which wont, before going to the website?
    - krupan 7y ago
      I'd you are that concerned use a proxy, VPN, Tor, etc.
    - jamiequint 7y ago
      How do you know what businesses have cameras to count visitors before going into the business?
      - xfer 7y ago
        Noone puts up cameras to count the visitors. They put them to monitor their activity.
        SahAssar 7y ago

xiaq 7y ago

The privacy game is about power, not about who is doing what right now. People shun Google's data collection because of what Google can do with the data, not what it has done or is doing; it only takes a single case of data misuse to reveal the power dynamics even if nothing has happened to them personally. You don't have to play the privacy game -- there is a lot of space between really respecting user's privacy and breaking privacy laws. But if you do, you should put the power back in the user's hand. (Disclaimer: I work for Google.)

lioeters 7y ago
Thank you for that comment. It means a lot that such a thoughtful consideration of privacy is coming from someone working at Google, there is hope yet for a humane approach to analytics and data collection.
la_barba 7y ago
I think it is fair to know exactly what data I'm giving up and what Google is doing with it, if I chose to exchange it for free services and goods. Hopefully someone with a spine comes to power and enacts some regulation allowing users to have a much clearer understanding of this. Also, people dislike Google for many things it has already done, not just because of an imagined future problem. Also.... nothing personal against you!
kerng 7y ago
There have been countless cases for me personally where Googles tracking is creepy. Like Google Map recommendations, YouTube videos I should watch, misleading ads that send the user to malware bases on interest Google has about them etc, as well as exposure of unauthenticated Google+ APIs that allowed access to sensitive data to name a few. I think saying nothing bad has happened is disingenuous. As soon as Google gets similar exposure as FB right now, internal whistleblowers might come forward also with more stories. Also, couple of years ago Google was thoroughly compromised by at least one foreign government, ever wonder how much data was stolen?
harianus 7y ago
https://twitter.com/randfish/status/1126892446925848578?s=21 https://twitter.com/randfish/status/1126892446925848578?s=21
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

hashedhashed 7y ago

Yeah, no. You are wrong and the fact that you provide services to go around adblockers makes you evil as fuck. Thanks for letting me know to block hello.js and hello.gif.

dx034 7y ago

I completely agree. I don't think Do not Track was ever about knowing how many visitors you have or the browser they use. That's basic knowledge needed to improve the site. Tracking becomes an issue if it's shared across pages and where personal data is collected without consent to sell it to the highest bidder.

notafraudster 7y ago

I don't think what you're doing is the end of the world, but answer this is extremely patronizing. You've basically said you know some users block your stuff, but you think they probably shouldn't really want to block your stuff, so you devise an end run around them. Then, finally, you conclude that if they really want to block your stuff, they should do something that you yourself admit won't block your stuff, but that's okay because they shouldn't want to block your stuff.

jamiequint 7y ago
I'm fine with people being patronizing towards whiny, entitled users who think they have a right to use any website they want on their terms. If you don't like someone running log analysis on their traffic then don't go to their website, nobody forced you to.
- jononor 7y ago
  How exactly does one know which websites will do this and which wont, before going to the website?
  - krupan 7y ago
    I'd you are that concerned use a proxy, VPN, Tor, etc.
  - jamiequint 7y ago
    How do you know what businesses have cameras to count visitors before going into the business?
    - xfer 7y ago
      Noone puts up cameras to count the visitors. They put them to monitor their activity.
      - SahAssar 7y ago