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posted by takyon on Saturday December 12 2015, @06:44AM   Printer-friendly
from the analyze-this dept.

News aggregator site Voat announced their intention to "stop using Google Analytics service, effective immediately." The replacement will be the GPL'd platform Piwik, which will be installed "when time permits," and will be hosted by Voat themselves. The announcement is getting a warm reception; as of 02:22 UTC on December 12, there are over 1100 upvotes for the newspost.

Google Analytics has been notorious for being disrespectful of privacy, from surreptitious geolocation, to downright creepy knee-jerk reconfiguration of website ads to the last visited e-commerce venue, in a desperate attempt to lure window shoppers to a purchase. Despite the existence of a browser add-on released by Google in 2010, those in the know have recommended alternative countermeasures not involving installing Google software, such as a hosts file entry, or installing NoScript to block execution of Javascript from unauthorized websites. However, Voat's approach seems to be a step further: taking ownership of the analytics data itself, and cutting off Google's attempts to monetize the otherwise private data stream between the website and the users it serves.


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  • (Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Saturday December 12 2015, @08:49AM

    by Zz9zZ (1348) on Saturday December 12 2015, @08:49AM (#275346)

    Seems like you should separate your criticism. Stepping away from GA I see as a good thing, so perhaps that should not be mixed with opinions of a separate matter...

    --
    ~Tilting at windmills~
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

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  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by aristarchus on Saturday December 12 2015, @08:56AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday December 12 2015, @08:56AM (#275348) Journal

    Totally agree. No dispute about that. But that was not my point at all? Even with Runaway backing me up on the downlow from the otherside, I still fail to be clear? Oy, vey! BTW, like your point about the "hate" business. But I tend to look at it more as humor. Vicious, no-holds-barred, truth-telling humor, but that is the only way to fight stupid.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @02:20PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @02:20PM (#275405)

      > Vicious, no-holds-barred, truth-telling humor, but that is the only way to fight stupid.

      I can't tell if you are serious or intentionally doing a parody because that's exactly what the people who left reddit for voat think too.

      • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday December 15 2015, @06:33AM

        by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday December 15 2015, @06:33AM (#276547) Journal

        Vicious, no-holds-barred, truth-telling humor, but that is the only way to fight stupid.

        I can't tell if you are serious or intentionally doing a parody because that's exactly what the people who left reddit for voat think too.

        Not exactly. Those who left reddit over this were the Anti-Social Injustice Warriors of Sad Puppy-dom and Gamergatism, with a liberal dose of KKK racism (you know, thugs, Urban youth, black on black, and other cracker shit). They are well lost. Well and good lost. Only thing is, we have some of those right here in River City!!!

        You know who they are. They do not expect us. They do not know they are racists. When we take them up their ideological assholes, they will have no idea what happened. We are SJWs, we are armed, if you are against us, you have been warned.