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What does Google do with analytics data that's not acceptable to you? https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1011397 https://support.google.com/analytics/

by simonw 6mo ago

What does Google do with analytics data that's not acceptable to you? https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1011397 https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1011397 says "Regardless of your data sharing settings, your Analytics data may also be used only insofar as necessary to Maintain and protect the Analytics service."

philipwhiuk 6mo ago
> Maintain and protect the Analytics service This is a pretty broad leash. "To maintain the analytics service we need to make money"
- simonw 6mo ago
  What's the absolute worst thing Google could be doing with that analytics data?
  - fsflover 6mo ago
    Sell it to insurance companies, employers? Use it to target ads of snake oil to vulnerable people?
    - simonw 6mo ago
      Sell what to insurance companies? All they have is that there was a hit from an IP at a specific date and time. Any cookies they set will let them tell that the same browser came back an hour later - but won't let them join traffic together across multiple sites.
      - fsflover 6mo ago
        IP can be correlated with other data to infer the identity. Google ads are everywhere, so Google probably knows, who you are and your IP.
  - caymanjim 6mo ago
    Selling the fact that you visited a suicide prevention website to anyone who cares to buy it. Google analytics knows exactly who you are the second you access a site that uses Analytics. You don't have to be logged in. You don't even have to be a Google customer. They have IP and browser fingerprinting to uniquely identify people through aggregation of all their sources.
    - simonw 6mo ago
      OK, there is a feasible way this could happen. Google would need to be using IP address plus browser device fingerprinting to identify users who visit Google Analytics sites, and would then need to be packaging that data to sell to advertisers. I don't believe they do this, partly because if they did it would be something they would want to actively promote as a product to advertisers. Why do the creepy thing if you can't talk about it to make more money? But technically I do believe it is feasible.

by simonw 6mo ago

philipwhiuk 6mo ago

> Maintain and protect the Analytics service This is a pretty broad leash. "To maintain the analytics service we need to make money"

simonw 6mo ago
What's the absolute worst thing Google could be doing with that analytics data?
- fsflover 6mo ago
  Sell it to insurance companies, employers? Use it to target ads of snake oil to vulnerable people?
  - simonw 6mo ago
    Sell what to insurance companies? All they have is that there was a hit from an IP at a specific date and time. Any cookies they set will let them tell that the same browser came back an hour later - but won't let them join traffic together across multiple sites.
    - fsflover 6mo ago
      IP can be correlated with other data to infer the identity. Google ads are everywhere, so Google probably knows, who you are and your IP.
- caymanjim 6mo ago
  Selling the fact that you visited a suicide prevention website to anyone who cares to buy it. Google analytics knows exactly who you are the second you access a site that uses Analytics. You don't have to be logged in. You don't even have to be a Google customer. They have IP and browser fingerprinting to uniquely identify people through aggregation of all their sources.
  - simonw 6mo ago
    OK, there is a feasible way this could happen. Google would need to be using IP address plus browser device fingerprinting to identify users who visit Google Analytics sites, and would then need to be packaging that data to sell to advertisers. I don't believe they do this, partly because if they did it would be something they would want to actively promote as a product to advertisers. Why do the creepy thing if you can't talk about it to make more money? But technically I do believe it is feasible.