About Social Media Today
If the above title drew you in, good. Keep reading.
Thousands (millions?) of bloggers and other webmasters around the world use a free tool called Google Analytics to track website visitors and click-through metrics. I use it, and many bloggers I know also do. We’re all using it illegally.
Before installing the customized JavaScript code on a site, how many people read the terms of service?
Take note of section 7 (my emphasis in bold):
7. PRIVACY . You will not (and will not allow any third party to) use the Service to track or collect personally identifiable information of Internet users, nor will You (or will You allow any third party to) associate any data gathered from Your website(s) (or such third parties’ website(s)) with any personally identifying information from any source as part of Your use (or such third parties’ use) of the Service. You will have and abide by an appropriate privacy policy and will comply with all applicable laws relating to the collection of information from visitors to Your websites. You must post a privacy policy and that policy must provide notice of your use of a cookie that collects anonymous traffic data.
But you can’t have just any privacy policy. The fallacy of the above text is it came from the U.S. terms of service. The international version is more precise (bold is mine):
8.1 You will not associate (or permit any third party to associate) any data gathered from Your Website(s) (or such third parties’ website(s)) with any personally identifying information from any source as part of Your use (or such third parties’ use) of the Service. You will comply with all applicable data protection and privacy laws relating to Your use of the Service and the collection of information from visitors to Your websites. You will have in place in a prominent position on your Website (and will comply with) an appropriate privacy policy. You will also use reasonable endeavours to bring to the attention of website users a statement which in all material respects is as follows:
“This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States . Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.”
8.2 You agree that Google may review your website at any time to verify that you have included an appropriate statement as specified above. You further agree to make such changes to the content or positioning of the statement as Google (acting reasonably) considers necessary in order to ensure compliance with this Section 8.
8.3 You agree that Google and its wholly owned subsidiaries may retain and use, subject to the terms of its Privacy Policy (located at http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html , or such other URL as Google may nominate for this use from time to time), information collected in Your use of the Service (including without limitation Customer Data) for the purpose of providing web analytics and tracking services to You. Google will not share such information with any third parties unless Google (i) has Your consent; (ii) concludes that it is required by law or has a good faith belief that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Google, its users or the public; or (iii) provides such information in certain limited circumstances to third parties to carry out tasks on Google’s behalf (e.g., billing or data storage) with strict restrictions that prevent the data from being used or shared except as directed by Google. When this is done, it is subject to agreements that oblige those parties to process such information only on Google’s instructions and in compliance with this Agreement and appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
I don’t have that required privacy policy on my site. Not yet; I didn’t know I needed it because I never read the terms. I only have a short sentence in this blog’s disclaimer that is relevant: This website does not place any cookies onto your browser, but third-party systems such as QuantCast and Google Analytics may do so.
But, even if I had the GA statement, I’d still be violating your privacy because the Google text above (in both versions) lacks details about how third parties use your data.
While you can opt out on a browser level, is that the best Google can do?
Think about that for a moment…
-- Thank you for reading How Bloggers and Webmasters Violate Your Privacy With Google Analytics at AriWriter
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