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Given that this is a community of entrepreneurs, I'm surprised how unsympathetic a lot of people here are to this technique. Operating a business online, analyt
by technel 15y ago
Given that this is a community of entrepreneurs, I'm surprised how unsympathetic a lot of people here are to this technique. Operating a business online, analytics are a very important part of understanding how your users interact with with your service and improving the quality of your correspondence. Facebook is just trying to identify which emails people respond to (i.e. open) most.
- tobtoh 15y agoProbably because most entrepreneurs have morals/ethics. Just because you can do something, or just because you want something, doesn't mean you should. And doubly so when you know that the victim would most likely not agree to being tracked.
- marshray 15y agoHow many of their users do you think know they're being tracked like that? I mean actually know and understand, not "were notified in the fine print on page 27". Tracking users in ways they don't actually know about and understand, well, the usual terms normal people apply to that sort of behavior are "underhanded", "antisocial", "betraying trust", etc.
- Drbble 15y agoThe vast majority of users don't understand any tracking technology, period.
- gpambrozio 15y agoI agree that analytics is important, but users are still entitled to their privacy, at least until they say otherwise. I'd say a nice way to go about it would be to use Read Receipts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_tracking#Read-receipts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_tracking#Read-receipts). I know they're kind of annoying, I have not used them in a while and I don't even know if gmail supports it but it would be the correct way to track opened emails.
- danso 15y agoWow, I hope that subscribing to this mindset is not the status quo among entrepreneurs. Another "very important" thing for most online businesses is money. Doesn't mean that we should accept it when they get it through underhanded means.
- RexRollman 15y agoJust because the information is useful, that doesn't mean it is ethical to collect it.
- tapp 15y agoWould those of you who object to this tactic also object to collecting website analytics (which in my experience many normal users, including members of my own family, do not understand either.) If not, why not? This isn't a rhetorical question; I'm sincerely curious. Thanks.
- djeikyb 15y agoFor email, it's the same reason I object to ordinary mail containing tracking devices beyond those needed to deliver the mail. For websites, it's the same risk I take when leaving my house to visit any public place.
- icebraining 15y agoPersonally, I think analytics is fine as long as you run them from the same domains as the website. Using e.g. Google Analytics allows them to track users across multiple sites, which is much more dangerous, in my opinion, and should be avoided. I use Piwik on my own sites and will never share that data with anyone.