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When you use something for free Are you talking about the app here? Because the price of the app has nothing to do with it, since I'm sure many paying apps use

When you use something for free Are you talking about the app here? Because the price of the app has nothing to do with it, since I'm sure many paying apps use analytics tools as well. The problem is not the use of analytics to improve the app either, but the fact that Flurry can track you specifically over multiple apps. If you're talking about Flurry being free, the major problem is that, as a developer, you get the functionality for free but it's the user that pays by giving away behavioral information. You're making the decision for the user that it's ok to use a service that will track you over multiple apps. edit: I admit that I use Google Analytics on websites, so I'm no better… (though I don't have any "real" sites) Ideally, there would be cheap (or better: FOSS) analytics tools you can set up on your own servers that are good enough for most basic tracking. Or to go with analytics tools that don't have an advertising arm. (do they exist at all?) (…) Ok, I just looked at your profile. I feel it's important to note that you co-founded a company (Pinch Media) that was acquired by Flurry. Seems like a relevant disclosure.

gyardley 15y ago
You could use something like Piwik for your Google Analytics problem - it's open source - although I don't believe it or any of the other open-source solutions scale well beyond a single box, so if your website takes off you'll have trouble. Many analytics tools exist that don't have an advertising arm - in fact, most don't. They charge developers directly. Mobile device analytics are a bit of an aberration, mainly for historical reasons, although paid solutions there also exist. For the user to 'pay' by giving away behavioral information, they'd have to suffer some sort of economic loss. They don't. (As an aside, a lot of the arguments made in favor of music or application piracy are surprisingly relevant to the collection of behavioral targeting data.) I believe that ideas should stand on their own, so I generally don't disclaimer up my posts. For example, I'm always irritated when someone dismisses a politician's stance because of his donors, as if to suggest he was bought. In the politician's case, he has the donors he does because of his ideas, not the other way around. In my case, I have the economic interests I do because of my ideas - again, not the other way around.

gyardley 15y ago

You could use something like Piwik for your Google Analytics problem - it's open source - although I don't believe it or any of the other open-source solutions scale well beyond a single box, so if your website takes off you'll have trouble. Many analytics tools exist that don't have an advertising arm - in fact, most don't. They charge developers directly. Mobile device analytics are a bit of an aberration, mainly for historical reasons, although paid solutions there also exist. For the user to 'pay' by giving away behavioral information, they'd have to suffer some sort of economic loss. They don't. (As an aside, a lot of the arguments made in favor of music or application piracy are surprisingly relevant to the collection of behavioral targeting data.) I believe that ideas should stand on their own, so I generally don't disclaimer up my posts. For example, I'm always irritated when someone dismisses a politician's stance because of his donors, as if to suggest he was bought. In the politician's case, he has the donors he does because of his ideas, not the other way around. In my case, I have the economic interests I do because of my ideas - again, not the other way around.