Opted Out
I've got it banned in NoScript already, and have got a long time.
Google is developing a browser plug-in that will let you opt-out of being tracked by Google Analytics, the traffic monitoring service now used by 71 per cent of the top domains on the interwebs. In a blog post yesterday, Google Analytics product manager Amy Chang said that engineers are "finalizing" testing on the plug-in and …
No problem, just install this tracking-- errrr, blocking application. It will tell us now many times and what sites you are skipping out on for Analytics' purposes. And the information it provides will be completely non-identifiable, uniquely identifiable numbers.
Paris, you can trust her, too.
I've had my very own Google Analytics opt-out for awhile now .....
##### in /etc/bind/named.conf #####
ZONE google-analytics.com {
type master;
file db.unwanted;
};
;;;;; in /var/cache/bind/db.unwanted ;;;;;
$TTL 604800
@ IN SOA localhost. root.localhost. (
2010031901 ; Serial
604800 ; Refresh
86400 ; Retry
2419200 ; Expire
604800 ) ; Negative Cache TTL
;
@ IN A 127.0.0.3
@ IN NS localhost.
ns IN A 192.168.32.214
;
* IN A 127.0.0.3
GA currently contravenes data protection legislation of a number of countries and pressure is starting slowly to restrict its use. However, as the sanctions are not particularly harsh and enforcement very patchy there is nothing really to worry about at the moment.
Things change in the EU from April next year as legislation passed by the parliament must be put into force in all member states: all cookies will be opt-in only. Google wants to be seen to be showing willing.
Whenever there is an article like this, you can guarantee the sanctimonious will come out with "oooh, I use ad block" or "noscript" or some dns/hosts hack.
Get over it, we don't want to know. This is The Register, remember? We know these things.
And Reg, all these people admitting they are blocking your ads - you may as well ban them!
Hell, yeah; I shitcanned pretty much every advertising domain I saw at El Reg first chance I had, as quickly as I could mouse down to the NoScript and AdBlock menus.
Still, should El Reg really care? I mean, aren't they paid by the advertisers whether the readers actually see their crap or not?
At the base of the Ghostery web site:
"2010 Ghostery, a part of The Better Advertising Project, Inc., 450 Lexington Avenue, c/o Warburg Pincus LLC, New York, NY 10017"
Then, at the "The Better Advertising Project" website, their motto is:
"We make advertising better. A lot better."
Make up your own mind...
@John Tserkezis: On the Ghostery website, there's also this:
To be clear - we are not an advertising agency, advertising network, advertising data collector, advertising exchange or any other type of company that collects and uses online consumer behavior for advertising purposes. Any data that we collect is never transferred to any other party or used for any advertising-related purpose.
And from their FAQ:
What data does Better Advertising receive from users who opt-in to GhostRank?
Ghostery users must opt-in to GhostRank. We will use the data from GhostRank to discover new trackers on the internet; view specific performance and use statistics; and follow industry compliance with privacy and choice standards for behavioral advertising.
@John Tserkezis: On the Ghostery website, there's also this:
To be clear - we are not an advertising agency, advertising network, advertising data collector, advertising exchange or any other type of company that collects and uses online consumer behavior for advertising purposes. Any data that we collect is never transferred to any other party or used for any advertising-related purpose.
And from the Ghostery FAQ:
What data does Better Advertising receive from users who opt-in to GhostRank?
Ghostery users must opt-in to GhostRank. We will use the data from GhostRank to discover new trackers on the internet; view specific performance and use statistics; and follow industry compliance with privacy and choice standards for behavioral advertising.
Analytics matches the standard "anal/i" regexp which is present in most net-nanny like software. So as a matter of fact, if your browsing passes through a machine controlled by the "Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice" or as they are usually known "IT working on HR's orders" it is already opted out.
You got to love the "censored" Internet as presented to the corporate slaves in their cubicles and open plan offices.
@John Tserkezis: On the Ghostery website, there's also this:
To be clear - we are not an advertising agency, advertising network, advertising data collector, advertising exchange or any other type of company that collects and uses online consumer behavior for advertising purposes. Any data that we collect is never transferred to any other party or used for any advertising-related purpose.
And from the Ghostery FAQ:
What data does Better Advertising receive from users who opt-in to GhostRank?
Ghostery users must opt-in to GhostRank. We will use the data from GhostRank to discover new trackers on the internet; view specific performance and use statistics; and follow industry compliance with privacy and choice standards for behavioral advertising.