2008/5/22 Philip Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> I'm sure Stut (and others) have said enough, but I can no longer resist...
>
> On May 21, 2008, at 8:08 AM, Michelle Konzack wrote:
>
>> Am 2008-05-12 15:40:54, schrieb Stut:
>>
>> I do not know, what this urchinTacker() does,  but  since  it  is  named
>> "Tracker", I asume it is a tool, which collect infos about Websiteusers.
>> A thing I do not like since it is violation of my privacy.
>
> This statement appears to be one of ignorance. You claim that because you
> don't know what it does and it has a certain name, it MUST be a violation of
> your privacy. A violation of your privacy would be gaining
> *personally-identifiable* information w/o your knowledge - G.A. can't tell a
> web admin my first, middle, last names and DOB from my browser. Do some
> reading about the product and then make an educated statement.

Playing devils advocate here:

Firstly, you're mischaracterising her statement. She says she's
assuming it's a tool which collects information about users (which is
true) and she says she doesn't like such tools because she sees them
as a violation of her privacy (which is a matter of her opinion). She
does not say that it must be a violation of her privacy *because* she
doesn't know what it does and has a certain name.

Secondly, personally identifiable information doesn't have to be as
obvious as firstname/lastname/dob as Brian Clifton (European Head of
Web Analytics at Google) wrote in his book 'Advanced Web Metrics with
Google Analytics':

"Note: On the internet, IP addresses are classed as personally
identifiable information."

And Google Analytics is most definitely getting IP addresses, even if
they say they discard them when they no longer need them.

>>  If you use such tools, you have to warn users of your website, that  you
>>  are collecting data otherwise you could be run into trouble...
>
> These statements are what really made me want to respond. From this
> statement, you are basically saying that a majority of the sites out there
> would have to have disclaimers.

Well, actually section 7 of their terms of service with google
analytics requires them to have notices.

 I know! Why don't we just require web
> developers to reveal the secrets!(TM) of their sites and give the source
> code so we can verify that they're not trying to find the name of my cat
> when I was 8? I mean, come on. "[W]arn users of your website"?? Don't get me
> wrong - I am all about security, but this appears to be taking it a bit far.
> As a web surfer, one should be aware of the potential risks and prepare
> reasonably!(TM) However, I must question if you should even be on the web...
> how do you sleep at night with all those javascript functions and cookies
> just parading around the 'net?!

Have you had a little too much coffee today?

-robin

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