The default Updater reporting is disabled easily enough by including this in configuration.yaml:
default_config:
updater:
reporting: false
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I understand your point but I donāt believe what you do actually make any difference.
Goggle Analytics share the data of your browsing with the site/app owner.
This can be such metrics as how long you have spent on each page or in what order you click the links.
Example you went to āhomeā then āaboutā and then went to āproductsā.
The website owner can use this information to better help their visitors by making āaboutā larger on the main page as an example.
Will that make any profit? Maybeā¦ if you find the website easier to browse and more intuitive you perhaps make a purchase there, but that is still up to you.
That data, that you visited āaboutā has no affect anywhere else. This does not give Google any new knowledge of how to target you with ads.
Your cookies drive the ads, your search history, and in some cases the location of your phone.
I use analytics on my website, but I donāt read the data that intense that I make any changes because of it, in the beginning I did some changes, but now itās more of an occasional curiosity.
I donāt mind analytics being sent from me either since I see the website owner can use it to better their page (if they use it).
Iād say that if itās a website you regularly use then you should allow analytics since you have an interest in the contents there, and if the contents are easier to find/use then why not?
So why did I say I didnāt think it makes any difference?
Well because I believe Google already tracks you in so many other ways that this is just a small percentage.
So what you do is that you block the data that āJoeās online storeā needs to make his page better but most likely there is already a ton of data leaking to the big companies instead.
Thatās my view of itā¦
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I make it a habit to avoid being tracked. Iām not paranoid. I donāt even own a tin-foil hat. Itās more like a hobby; Iām curious to see how much I can block.
Iām not on Facebook. I use Ad-block browsers, and block trackers using Ghostery and other add-ons. I clear cookies at browser shutdown. I donāt auto-logon to sites like Amazon. I search for what I want first, copy the URL (without the tracking info) and when Iām logged on, I plug in that URL and only stay logged on only long enough to purchase the item.
Now that Iāve establish my anti-tracking credentials, I can say that I agree with Hellis81 that Google Analytics doesnāt bother me. I think I may even have that white-listed. Iāve done web development, and I know how helpful it can be to know how many of which type of browser is using your site, what country theyāre coming from, what language they speak, etc.
I agree Google has strayed from its ādonāt be evilā roots, but I still find Analytics fairly non-threatening.
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I think the main issue of the topic has been cleared, so I donāt mind using it to have a chat on this side topic
You seem to sing the praises of the generic class of products dedicated to user behavior analysis.
Google analytics is ONE product that offers that, and it happens to be the most popular and owned by a company that (in the TOS) specifies that they use that information internally, and not only to inform the website owner of the behavior of their users (itās basically free, why would they keep it free if they didnāt get any profit out of it).
I wouldnāt have a problem (or I would have fewer problems) if websites contained their own tracking system, which would collect data for the owner only, or if there was a healthy market of tracking companies, which would charge the website owner for the service of collecting user metrics on their behalf (and not reselling it).
The problem (for most people sensitive to this matter) is not the tracking per se (for instance, I am happy to share with Nabu Casa DIRECTLY the kind of installation I have) but the fact that the tracking is performed by basically 2 companies (Google and Facebook) with a business model based on selling surveillance data obtained with a āfreeā product, as opposed to selling a product.
As has been said before, if it is free then you are the product!
But this requires much more effort from the web-site builder. Thatās why they donāt do it.
Of course, thatās why I would find acceptable to have a market of tracking companies (that only do that, not advertising companies giving tracking away for free). There might be instances where you would want to block them too, but in general I would find it much better than a monopoly.
And full disclousure - I manage websites with google analytics. The data it provides is less and less useful (due to to the fact that more and more people have blockers) but there are alternatives (self hosted and trusted third parties)
Not at all.
Iām just curious to why people find it so offensive.
After all, most of that data and more is already leaked in several ways throughout your daily life by just going shopping and using a card to pay.
I see your point, but in order to get some substantial data you need to know more than what a user gives you on one website.
You need to see what the users are engaging at on other websites in order to get a pattern.
I mean if you have a webstore selling computer parts but you see from the data that many of the customers/viewers are having a shared interest in say climbing then you can offer those two products.
Normally you would not make that guess, but because you know the customers then itās easier to stock new stuff that may be appealing to customers.
Sure, the website owner āwinsā on this and Google too. But the fact is that Google already knew this about you long before it was shared with Google analytics/the site owner.
So when you think about it, Google analytics is just old data that they have gathered on you from the past that is sent to this website, and the next will obviously know you are interested in both computers and climbing. But most likely that has already been established before.
So bottom line, even if you do develop a system that track customers on your website it will only be what they view on your website which is off course of value but knowing the age/demographic/interests and so on is what may change your business.
In some extent I canāt understand it at all.
I mean imagine this behavior in real life instead.
You walk in to a store and canāt find what you want, but you donāt want to ask because then they know what you want and what you are interested in.
And if they do have what you want then you canāt buy it because then they know what you bought.
But as Nick says we are products.
I understand that it feels more controversial with internet, but look at all the advertisement you see when you take a walk in a city. You are a product no matter if you like it or not.
The company I work for revealed their plans for the future.
They will rebuild all stores to match the customers that visit the stores.
So if a store is in the ānicerā neighborhood then perhaps hide the nudels and bring out the entrecote. And the other way around in student areas.
Then send notifications to peopleās phones if there is a sale on a product they usually buy when they enter the store.
I understand some of you are having a hard time sitting still now, but itās actually a good thing.
Make sure your life is as easy as possible and donāt have to spend more time in the grocery store than needed.
Just look at the stores the past decades, they have been doing it all the time but now there is enough tools to make it really good.
Is it really that different that the same thing is happening online but more targeted at you?
I understand that some will perhaps have a hard time resisting all the āoffersā but the same thing happened when all prices ended with 99 to make them more appealing.
I donāt say that itās a good thing what is happening, but I can see some benefits to make life easier.
But I donāt either think that itās wrong to have the other opinion. Just wanting to know why. Know
Thatās why I prefer to pay cash.
But you are still part of the store statistics.
Thus still accounted for and tracked.
You are just listed in the category of cash purchases where you can still track each individual purchase but not in between two purchases.
They still know āyouā bought a loaf of bread and milk, and opted for a cheese that was imported even though there was a sale on a different one.
In a way you are still a product that is monitored.
The only way to not be monitored and be free of all this is to live independently in the woods.
Yes, and the store employees know me and my shopping habits. There is little one can do against that.
As someone who has worked with making and maintaining websites in the past, data from this system can be a great help to making a website better. Sure you can get programs that go though the server logs but none of them are anywhere as detailed not to mention real time data.
I will say however, I would trust Google any day far more than Facebook.
This should be flagged as āSolvedā and pined to the top. Also edit the subject IMO. People going to read this topic might not make it down this far or just skip to the bottom.
6 Likes
I understand your point. I see the value of that for some people.
Thereās a number of examples of situations where one would want to avoid it, but I do understand itās āprobably okā for most people.
The scale and the centralization scare me.
I cannot do much against a store trying to understand who I am to sell me more stuff. I donāt even feel I should, itās their job.
But I am concerned, and I can do something, about the fact that every store (and most importantly, even non commercial entities) on the internet relying on a handful (one? Two?) of companies hovering up every signal about me. Itās efficient, but itās an impressive amount of data in the hands of one company. You can be OK with it but can you at least imagine why it wouldnāt sit right for some people?
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I have no problems understanding why people donāt like to be monitored.
But what I donāt understand is why they are trying to block Google analytics.
Google analytics is just the messenger!
The tracking is done elsewhere. (Ok some tracking is done with the actual GA code, such as time spent on a website an probably which order you click on links) but the majority of the tracking, meaning all the personal details is not done with the tracking code the website you visit have.
The JavaScript code that a website have to enable Google analytics is just an online survey that your computer submits automatically.
If you want to track how long someone has spent on a website or in what order they click on links then itās not that hard to do.
Just create a session for each user and append the pages the user visits to a list.
I believe there is a misunderstanding of what Google analytics is and that is why i just couldnāt understand why people try so hard to block it.
As I mentioned before the tracking/monitoring is done elsewhere/long before the Google analytics come in to play.
If you want to block something then block the data going TO Google instead of the data going FROM Google (about you).
Yes, a good, free or inexpensive log analyzer is just as effective as Google Analytics. I used to run one, but it drifted away from my needs and I really havenāt explored whatās out there today. Thereās probably some basic open-source project which would meet most needs.
Thatās not the problem. To make this analogy relevant, every clerk in every store would have to record everything he/she knows about you, and feed it to a central database which every other employee of every other store (and every criminal in your neighborhood) can access.
Bingo!
Right. GA knows about the site youāre on now, and a bit about where you are and what type of hardware and software youāre running.
If you clear all your cookies when you leave that site, then go to a different site, itās almost as if youāre someone else. With so many people on cell phones and tablets now, and cable companies using NAT, itās not even very helpful to assume the same IP address is from the same household.
This is why thereās been so much flap about Google and Apple assigning unique IDs to devices, which can be used far more reliably than cookies to tie your browsing habits at different site to you as an individual.
Itās not. Thatās the point.
Imagine if every store would hire the same private investigator to gather information about every customer.
Youād say āblame the stores, not the investigator, theyāre just the messengerā.
But the messenger is not even charging the stores, they work āfor freeā, because they have their own agenda on how to use the information collected. And itās ONE entity. With detailed information about many persons behavior ACROSS different stores, vastly overstepping the original goal of a single store to better know their customers.
Iām not saying itās universally immoral or wrong, or necessarily dangerous. Iām saying it feels wrong to me and many other people, both on a personal level and with respect to the idea of having a healthy market for this kind of services.
2 Likes
I first want to say that I very much appreciate your admission and public apology. It takes a LOT to do that!
Secondly, I agree with another post that this should be marked as āsolved,ā because it got me rather worked-up at first.
Finally, I want to thank and congratulate the developers of Home Assistant for their attention to security. I use Home Assistant to automate a conference room at my work, as a demonstration of what is possible. I had our cyber-security gurus scrutinize it, and they gave you highest praise, saying that this is among the best they had ever seen, from a security perspective.
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Done.
Thank you.
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