Opt-out of Google Analytics: bad idea
Google will be allowing people to opt-out of being included in Google Analytics, which helps website owners track and analyse their traffic. Here's why I think it's a terrible idea.
I wish to have a little rant about something that I have just read on the Google public policy blog, stating that Google will be allowing people to opt-out of being included in your website's Google Analytics data.
Original article: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/05/google-analytics-more-choice-for-users.html
This, in my opinion, is a terrible idea. If you have no idea of who is letting you gather information about pages you are serving, Google Analytics is not a reliable source of data for your website's performance.
I can understand what Google is trying to do considering recent events with wifi data and privacy concerns. However, I think is has taken this too far the other way.
I understand and respect peoples' right to browse the internet in private and not have pointless information gathered if they don't want to. But to stop the statistics being tracked altogether is crazy, considering basic information can be gathered from your web-server log files (IP address, page requested, time, internet-browser type and version).
I quickly installed the extension onto Google's Chrome browser and it would appear that there are no options: the add-on just stops all data being sent to Google, meaning the Google Analytics data will only be a rough guide to you traffic figures. For most, that simply won't cut it. Unless you use another method to track your website's performance, you could be unknowingly serving thousands of pages per month without being able to track them.
I think Google should have allowed people to opt-out of all the advanced tracking information, such as screen resolution and time on site, recording only the information that could be retrieved from log files thereby leaving website users feeling protected and owners of websites in the know about their traffic levels.
If you have a website or are a concerned web browser, please let me know your views and comment below.
I can also be found on Twitter @dean_faulkner if you wish to share your views in under 140 characters.