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I read a Twitter thread a while back saying they use Google Analytics, but if you reject the cookie prompt it isn't loaded. They need some sort of analytics if

I read a Twitter thread a while back saying they use Google Analytics, but if you reject the cookie prompt it isn't loaded. They need some sort of analytics if they want to know how the site is used, but as a Brit who uses that site I'd really rather they didn't use GA, it's not appropriate, in my opinion for a government service.

the_other 5y ago
It's never appropriate. It's a lynchpin of Google's surveillance network. The benefit they get from "giving away" the useful-but-awkward tools outweighs the benefit any GA users see from using GA. Google rigged the race before most people knew they were in it. We all should stop using it.
- atatatat 5y ago
  I am a CTO making these decisions, right now. Can you point me toward a more moral path that won't make it painful for SEO contractors to work with our startup? If there's something better, or more informative than Google Analytics, I would obviously love to choose that!
  - stefanvdw1 5y ago
    I’ve heard good things about both plausible [0] and panelbear[1] as alternatives to Google Analytics. Can’t say I have tested them personally yet unfortunately. 0. https://plausible.io https://plausible.io 2. https://panelbear.com https://panelbear.com
  - alias_neo 5y ago
    The general consensus is "host your own", that way you're not giving more control over the web to Google by providing them the inner workings of your site via your analytics data. There are several alternatives, you'll tend to find a lot of them advertised in the comments section here for any anti-Google Analytics post.
  - tutmeister 5y ago
    I lead a government digital service and have migrated from GA out of respect for our constituents' privacy. Umami is a great self-hosted alternative, which you can load under a subdomain to avoid it being blocked by adblockers. Most of the SaaS products end up on uBlock or other adblocker lists, even when they respect privacy, so this has been my go to option. UserTrack is another great option we use and it continues to add great features. It's more than worth the commercial license fee. I had a conversation with Cristian by email this weekend, for example, about adding a feature. By this morning he had put together an example in their docs on how to add the feature to your site.
crtasm 5y ago
Fully agree. Related: we noticed they have the invisible google recaptcha on the submission page for registering covid test kits. If you have google.com blocked, instead of asking you to unblock it you just get told "we can't confirm the details you entered are genuine".
- alias_neo 5y ago
  I didnt know that. That's pretty disappointing. What do they expect us to do if we want to report test results but not allow Google captcha?
  - crtasm 5y ago
    We checked the physical instructions and no other option is offered. I wonder if they even considered people might have google blocked when building the system. Page in question: https://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/register-home-test https://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/register-home-te... Even the feedback form linked from there is "Protected by reCAPTCHA". Ridiculous.
FerretFred 5y ago
The cookies popups are probably _the_ most annoying thing about the gov.uk experience.

the_other 5y ago

It's never appropriate. It's a lynchpin of Google's surveillance network. The benefit they get from "giving away" the useful-but-awkward tools outweighs the benefit any GA users see from using GA. Google rigged the race before most people knew they were in it. We all should stop using it.

atatatat 5y ago
I am a CTO making these decisions, right now. Can you point me toward a more moral path that won't make it painful for SEO contractors to work with our startup? If there's something better, or more informative than Google Analytics, I would obviously love to choose that!
- stefanvdw1 5y ago
  I’ve heard good things about both plausible [0] and panelbear[1] as alternatives to Google Analytics. Can’t say I have tested them personally yet unfortunately. 0. https://plausible.io https://plausible.io 2. https://panelbear.com https://panelbear.com
- alias_neo 5y ago
  The general consensus is "host your own", that way you're not giving more control over the web to Google by providing them the inner workings of your site via your analytics data. There are several alternatives, you'll tend to find a lot of them advertised in the comments section here for any anti-Google Analytics post.
- tutmeister 5y ago
  I lead a government digital service and have migrated from GA out of respect for our constituents' privacy. Umami is a great self-hosted alternative, which you can load under a subdomain to avoid it being blocked by adblockers. Most of the SaaS products end up on uBlock or other adblocker lists, even when they respect privacy, so this has been my go to option. UserTrack is another great option we use and it continues to add great features. It's more than worth the commercial license fee. I had a conversation with Cristian by email this weekend, for example, about adding a feature. By this morning he had put together an example in their docs on how to add the feature to your site.

crtasm 5y ago

Fully agree. Related: we noticed they have the invisible google recaptcha on the submission page for registering covid test kits. If you have google.com blocked, instead of asking you to unblock it you just get told "we can't confirm the details you entered are genuine".

alias_neo 5y ago
I didnt know that. That's pretty disappointing. What do they expect us to do if we want to report test results but not allow Google captcha?
- crtasm 5y ago
  We checked the physical instructions and no other option is offered. I wonder if they even considered people might have google blocked when building the system. Page in question: https://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/register-home-test https://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/register-home-te... Even the feedback form linked from there is "Protected by reCAPTCHA". Ridiculous.

FerretFred 5y ago

The cookies popups are probably _the_ most annoying thing about the gov.uk experience.