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Nice, idea for someone (I wish I had time)... "Good Housekeeping Seal" for Analytics - Self host analytics - Don't use google analytics - Don't use tracking

Nice, idea for someone (I wish I had time)... "Good Housekeeping Seal" for Analytics - Self host analytics - Don't use google analytics - Don't use tracking pixels (FB, Reddit, etc) - etc "Good Housekeeping Seal" for Billing Practices (in same vein, a little off topic though) - Can cancel your subscription online - Sends reminders prior to charging card (dark pattern on some sites) - Open receipt API to scrape out historical spend data - started some thoughts here- https://github.com/HipSpec/invoice-data-api-specification https://github.com/HipSpec/invoice-data-api-specification - No sneaky trial => subscription without warning - etc ==== I think most of us here acknowledge that privacy or "how the sausage is made" generally doesn't sell to businesses & consumers. But I think there's some fertile ground between a self attestation (PCI style) and a $40-50k SOC Audit. There are a ton of incumbents that at this point could not strip out spyware from their application/data stacks even with 100 human years of engineering effort... could be a competitive advantage for smaller/newer organizations to leverage. Good Housekeeping reference: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/about-the-institute/a31680/good-housekeeping-seal-faqs/ https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/about-the-institu... Thanks for sharing the article, SimpleAnalytics, Posthog & Fathom are steps in the right direction. Also shout out to Matomo/Piwik, one of the OG's in self hosted/ Google analytics alternatives.

AdriaanvRossum 6y ago
Together with jivings I'm working on a ethical code of conduct [1]. Please add more if you want. Happy to make this a standard for websites. Maybe add a seal as well. [1] https://hackmd.io/EmPIHGhTRh6pDSJ1VEgkkA https://hackmd.io/EmPIHGhTRh6pDSJ1VEgkkA
- edraferi 6y ago
  Looks good, but needs additional specificity / testability. > No hidden costs What is a "hidden cost"? Sometimes pricing is complicated. For example, shipping and sales taxes vary based on the customer's location. > No making it difficult to cancel/unsubscribe from a plan Maybe: "An authenticated user must be able to review their past and upcoming charges within 2 clicks from the default view. This page must provide immediate options for cancelling/unsubscribing (2 additional clicks to allow for confirmation)." Or weaker: "Users must be able to cancel/unsubscribe by any mechanism that they can use to sign up / subscribe. For example, if users can purchase a subscription on the website, a they cannot be required to make a phone call to cancel that subscription" > Automated emails to not self generated mailing lists/social platforms I don't understand what this means. Are you trying to prevent the companies from using third-party advertising targeting? That seems like an unreasonable ask. It would prevent using Google/Facebook/Twitter for basic marketing tasks. > No spammy follow up emails This is not testable. It would be more valuable to identify quantitative best practices and publish those. e.g. "When a user cancels a subscription, do not sent them more than 1 marketing email per month asking them to re-subscribe" > Allow recipients to easily unsubscribe from mailing-list emails This should be covered by the "no making it difficult to cancel" clause.
rplnt 6y ago
> Can cancel your subscription online I think this is legally required in EU at least? I mean, if you started the subscription online. Same with the trial I believe.
- masonhensley 6y ago
  Despite that, many companies employ dark patterns where you can take that action if you are in the EU, but they add friction in other markets.
dv_dt 6y ago
Incidentally, California state law requires transparency around cancellation of subscriptions. Including online cancellation if the sub was started online. https://blogs.findlaw.com/common_law/2018/07/what-to-know-about-californias-new-online-cancelation-law.html https://blogs.findlaw.com/common_law/2018/07/what-to-know-ab...
- masonhensley 6y ago
  Despite that you would be surprised how many companies still make it difficult and employ dark patterns here. Apparently the WSJ only allows that flow for California residents? https://m.signalvnoise.com/subscription-hostages/ https://m.signalvnoise.com/subscription-hostages/

AdriaanvRossum 6y ago

Together with jivings I'm working on a ethical code of conduct [1]. Please add more if you want. Happy to make this a standard for websites. Maybe add a seal as well. [1] https://hackmd.io/EmPIHGhTRh6pDSJ1VEgkkA https://hackmd.io/EmPIHGhTRh6pDSJ1VEgkkA

edraferi 6y ago
Looks good, but needs additional specificity / testability. > No hidden costs What is a "hidden cost"? Sometimes pricing is complicated. For example, shipping and sales taxes vary based on the customer's location. > No making it difficult to cancel/unsubscribe from a plan Maybe: "An authenticated user must be able to review their past and upcoming charges within 2 clicks from the default view. This page must provide immediate options for cancelling/unsubscribing (2 additional clicks to allow for confirmation)." Or weaker: "Users must be able to cancel/unsubscribe by any mechanism that they can use to sign up / subscribe. For example, if users can purchase a subscription on the website, a they cannot be required to make a phone call to cancel that subscription" > Automated emails to not self generated mailing lists/social platforms I don't understand what this means. Are you trying to prevent the companies from using third-party advertising targeting? That seems like an unreasonable ask. It would prevent using Google/Facebook/Twitter for basic marketing tasks. > No spammy follow up emails This is not testable. It would be more valuable to identify quantitative best practices and publish those. e.g. "When a user cancels a subscription, do not sent them more than 1 marketing email per month asking them to re-subscribe" > Allow recipients to easily unsubscribe from mailing-list emails This should be covered by the "no making it difficult to cancel" clause.

rplnt 6y ago

> Can cancel your subscription online I think this is legally required in EU at least? I mean, if you started the subscription online. Same with the trial I believe.

masonhensley 6y ago
Despite that, many companies employ dark patterns where you can take that action if you are in the EU, but they add friction in other markets.

dv_dt 6y ago

Incidentally, California state law requires transparency around cancellation of subscriptions. Including online cancellation if the sub was started online. https://blogs.findlaw.com/common_law/2018/07/what-to-know-about-californias-new-online-cancelation-law.html https://blogs.findlaw.com/common_law/2018/07/what-to-know-ab...

masonhensley 6y ago
Despite that you would be surprised how many companies still make it difficult and employ dark patterns here. Apparently the WSJ only allows that flow for California residents? https://m.signalvnoise.com/subscription-hostages/ https://m.signalvnoise.com/subscription-hostages/