Did not read through, but from a quick look, I suspect anyone can grab the code, and fill in your AWS with terabytes of garbage data which will end up in an enromous amount of dollars in AWS billing.
Am I missing something?
Stop donating your customers' data to Google Analytics
61–70 of 163 posts
Re: Stop donating your customers' data to Google Analytics
#62So the solution is to use Amazon's tracker? I appreciate the problem and I would like to stop using GA in my static pages as well, but trading one privately-owned software from a tech giant for another privately-owned software from a different tech giant seems a bit ludicrous. I would readily swap GA for some decent open-source solution though.
I'd say the following to this (very reasonable) argument against using AWS: AWS makes money by selling services, not collecting data. Should Amazon make the leap and start harvesting data from AWS for marketing purposes, the data from their analytics platform will be the least of our worries. Thus far, AWS has proven to be safe for companies to host their data upon, and there have been no leaks of data stored in AWS…
Over the long term it's possible that maximizing shareholder value requires monetization of additional resources.
The approach of 'today, company X is known to make money via Y, so we can trust them with private data' only works until that data becomes valuable enough for the company to invest in extracting.
Re: Stop donating your customers' data to Google Analytics
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd say the following to this (very reasonable) argument against using AWS: AWS makes money by selling services, not collecting data. Should Amazon make the leap and start harvesting data from AWS for marketing purposes, the data from their analytics platform will be the least of our worries. Thus far, AWS has proven to be safe for companies to host their data upon, and there have been no leaks of data stored in AWS…
This is why I use Prime photos, instead of Google photos. I need one, so I’ll take the paid one.
The idea that just because you're paying for something it means they're not sharing your data or won't sell your data in the future send a but naive. If you don't control the server you have no idea what they are doing. You're just hoping they don't sell your data.
Re: Stop donating your customers' data to Google Analytics
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd say the following to this (very reasonable) argument against using AWS: AWS makes money by selling services, not collecting data. Should Amazon make the leap and start harvesting data from AWS for marketing purposes, the data from their analytics platform will be the least of our worries. Thus far, AWS has proven to be safe for companies to host their data upon, and there have been no leaks of data stored in AWS…
Over the long term it's possible that maximizing shareholder value requires monetization of additional resources. The approach of 'today, company X is known to make money via Y, so we can trust them with private data' only works until that data becomes valuable enough for the company to invest in extracting.
Monetizing data stored in AWS would destroy their credibility with corporations, who are much more proactive in protecting themselves (both legally and with their wallets) than consumers are.
Re: Stop donating your customers' data to Google Analytics
#65Did not read through, but from a quick look, I suspect anyone can grab the code, and fill in your AWS with terabytes of garbage data which will end up in an enromous amount of dollars in AWS billing. Am I missing something?
Machine learning. How can you say no to machine learning? Did I mention machine learning?
Re: Stop donating your customers' data to Google Analytics
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd say the following to this (very reasonable) argument against using AWS: AWS makes money by selling services, not collecting data. Should Amazon make the leap and start harvesting data from AWS for marketing purposes, the data from their analytics platform will be the least of our worries. Thus far, AWS has proven to be safe for companies to host their data upon, and there have been no leaks of data stored in AWS…
People said the same about Apple, and then it turned out to be bullshit.[0] And, big surprise, their customers did not seem to hold them accountable. So in the end, paying for stuff just shows that you're a more valuable product to sell. And gives them a great primary key to track you by. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22106536
I've said this to most naysayers, but AWS aims itself at businesses, who are much more forward with their pocketbook and lawyers in protecting their privacy. AWS can't safely market data stored in their systems without running the risk of being abandoned and sued into oblivion.
Even Google doesn't dare monetize data stored in their enterprise customer's databases.
EDIT: Failing to offer a privacy-enhancing feature, and actively compromising and mining your customers data are quite different scenarios.
Re: Stop donating your customers' data to Google Analytics
#67I see a lot of suggestions for free or open-source analytics packages, but I would refrain from recommending anything you haven't personally used.
I've tried to separate myself from Google in various ways, and one of those was to replace Google Analytics with open source software. I tried several; they're all either non-functional out of the box, or require significant time investment to even start approaching Google Analytics.
After losing about a month of stats (which matters when you're also running AdSense), I ended up going back to Google. It took the same amount of time to set up as when I initially set it up: around 2 minutes of adding the tracking code and uploading it.
Re: Stop donating your customers' data to Google Analytics
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd say the following to this (very reasonable) argument against using AWS: AWS makes money by selling services, not collecting data. Should Amazon make the leap and start harvesting data from AWS for marketing purposes, the data from their analytics platform will be the least of our worries. Thus far, AWS has proven to be safe for companies to host their data upon, and there have been no leaks of data stored in AWS…
People said the same about Apple, and then it turned out to be bullshit.[0] And, big surprise, their customers did not seem to hold them accountable. So in the end, paying for stuff just shows that you're a more valuable product to sell. And gives them a great primary key to track you by. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22106536
> their customers did not seem to hold them accountable.
That story is 48 hours old; it remains to be seen what the effects will be.
Re: Stop donating your customers' data to Google Analytics
#69So the solution is to use Amazon's tracker? I appreciate the problem and I would like to stop using GA in my static pages as well, but trading one privately-owned software from a tech giant for another privately-owned software from a different tech giant seems a bit ludicrous. I would readily swap GA for some decent open-source solution though.
I'm only aware of https://matomo.org/ (formerly Piwik) as a good open source alternative to Google Analytics. Are there others?
I'm a fan of Fathom[0]. The amount of data and insight is light compared to GA and others but if it meets your needs it's pretty great.
Re: Stop donating your customers' data to Google Analytics
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm only aware of https://matomo.org/ (formerly Piwik) as a good open source alternative to Google Analytics. Are there others?
I'm a fan of Fathom[0]. The amount of data and insight is light compared to GA and others but if it meets your needs it's pretty great. [0] https://github.com/usefathom/fathom
Do you know if fathom will remain opensource and/or self-hostable ? (https://github.com/usefathom/fathom/issues/268)