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Google Analytics May Be Illegal In Germany
sopssa sends in a TechCrunch story that begins "Several federal and regional government officials in Germany are trying to put a ban on Google Analytics, the search giant's free software product that allows website owners and publishers to get detailed statistics about the number, whereabouts, and search behavior of their visitors (and much more)." Here's Google's translation of the article from Zeit Online (original in German). A German lawyer cited there says that penalties for websites that uses Google Analytics could amount to €50,000 (about $75,000). Reader sopssa adds, "The amount of data Google collects from everywhere on the Internet is indeed huge, and website owners should be using a local open source alternative to keep visitor data private."
If you come to my website then I, or my designated party, have the right to record the fact that you came to my website. If you don't like it then don't use the web. Is it also against the law to record what customers come in the door of your brick and mortar store in Germany?
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
But it's still disappointing. And I don't think the Dollar will ever get back to where it was.
It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
Dear Sir or Madam,
this is acutally complete nonsense.
If you choose to publish, you have no right whatsoever to track who is reading your publication for what reason.
Except saying bad words on TV or being naked in public :)
thegodmovie.com - watch it
Yes, I certainly want my personal data tracked and stored by 200 small-to-medium businesses that don't understand net security rather than one company with the knowledge and resources to do it well. I feel safer already!
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
Fortunately, they don't sneak around a HOSTS file very easily. (I suppose they could replace themselves with their own IP addresses, but that defeats the purpose of DNS, and would render them visually indistinguishable from malware. Which, in a sense, they are...)
If it's a German business, it's bound by German law. Having the webhosting in the U.S. won't help in that case.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
but has Google ever done wrong by their users?
And would you ever know? Are you sure that the prices you find on line are the same ones I see? Some manufacturers of luxury goods might not even want "your kind" seen in public with their product (replace "your kind" with whatever socio-economic group you want). Maybe you can't even see their web pages in a search.
I don't really care if Google knows my surfing habits. I hear the same argument against the club cards at supermarkets, and the same response applies.
In addition to the loyalty club discount, I also get an additional percentage knocked off at the cash register. Plus, I get rebates. Because they like me. I'm a desirable customer. You, not so much.
Have gnu, will travel.
Except, google does know what IP address you visited each site from, and they can check to see how many different userids have visited each site from each ip address each day.
If you really wanna screw with them clear your browser cookies multiple times a day.
Fortunately, "The country that tried to take over the world" has ceased to exist in May 1945. So what are you talking about?
Frankfurt airport really sucks. Try DUS sometimes, it is much more relaxed and friendly.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
It's like *telling Big Brother* that a middle-aged white male in a red sweatshirt came in the door of your house.
No, it's like telling a guy at a marketing company that a middle-aged white male in a red sweatshirt came in the door of your business.
A marketing company that is paying you or has some type of agreement with you to supply such information.
No. Google tracking cookies are unique to a single browser profile. Thats usually even a single user account.
So it's like letting "big brother" now, that the SAME person that used his credit card, issued to "Henry Johnson, Whatever Rd 34 (full adress)" at Walmart 2 hours ago, and who watched "Nuns with leather & whips" porn site 2 days ago, just came in the door of your house. Oh and yes, he's wearing a red sweatshirt.
bickerdyke
I've said it once and I'll say it again: Germany is not a free country.
I always hear about them banning something or other for some stupid reason because it isn't good for the public.
The most recent thing I heard about was that German politicians banned paintball because they believe it will lead to less gun-related violence and therefore good for society, and then you can't say anything about Nazis or face jail time or some other severe penalty and video games have to be heavily censored.
I could go on on but in short I put Germany up there with China, not quiet as bad but still the fact that free speech is merely an illusion there makes me feel that Germany has a ways to go in terms of personal liberties when compared to several other democratic countries in the western world.
Sorry, disregard my other posting, something went wrong.
I'm german and i actually feel that i'm in a very free country, thank you very much. Yes, there are some laws which i disagree with, but overall it is fine.
Complete bullshit. You can say a lot about nazis and the nazi era. You can discuss this, and you are even free to utter dumb sentences like "not everything was bad in nazi germany" (which is technically spoken true, but a dumb statement nethertheless as a german tv personality badly learned a while a ago).
You are only banned from showing symbols like the swastika, play/sing some songs like the "Horst Wessel Lied" (horst wessel song, hymn of the nazi party), deny the holocaust or praise the unlawful nazi regime. But even doing this will most of the time not lead you into jail. A fine will do in most cases.
Now you might argue that this is against freedom of speech, but as a german i feel that given our history there is very good reason to ban said things, especially denying the holocaust. Our ancestors have done enough harm to e.g. jews, there is no need to further harm them by allowing to state that the horror they (the few who were not killed) encountered actually never happened.
Yes, you could go on with bullshit claims, but this still puts germany nowhere near china. Not quite as bad? That is the understatement of the year.
Still the fact is that free speech is actually provided in germany. But most of us germans (and europeans in general) have a different feeling of the meaning of free speech. Free speech is fine, but the right to it ends where others are harmed. I don't have a problem with that, and most people i know don't have either. This concept might be hard to grasp for a citizen of the United States, but i'm still fine with it and i don't feel that i'm missing some of the banned speech.
I take it that you are from the US. People like you also have a long way to go until you will finally understand that the us american believes are not the holy grail to which the whole world needs to subscribe.
Am I the only one who thinks it's funny that they point to a Google translation of a story how Google analytics may be illegal in Germany? ;-)
So you have free speech by you can't freely say the the holocaust didn't happen, In most free countries free speech is the right to say anything no matter how ignorant with out penalty under the law. There are two exemptions yelling fire in a theater and calling for violence, everything else is protected. Germany has limited speech in that they can criticize the government but they are not free to say what they please without the retribution of the government. The fact that you are complicit with less rights doesn't change anything citizens in North Korea and China are fine with their lack or rights but they still are not free.
Knowledge = Power
P= W/t
t=Money
Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
So you have free speech by you can't freely say the the holocaust didn't happen, In most free countries free speech is the right to say anything no matter how ignorant with out penalty under the law. There are two exemptions yelling fire in a theater and calling for violence, everything else is protected.
That's not true. There are a multitude of exceptions even under US law, which has the strongest free speech protections in the world. The general rule is that to restrict speech, the government must show that the measure is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest. Some types of speech that are illegal in the US, randomly off the top of my head: defamation; false advertising; inciting crime; cigarette advertising in many contexts; obscenity; lying in court or to police or a grand jury; breaking a non-disclosure agreement; speech that infringes copyright or other intellectual property rights; dissemination of classified information; providing aid and comfort to the enemy in time of war; and lots more. The Wikipedia article has more discussion.
However, it should be said that purely political speech is nearly always protected in the US, unless it directly advocates violence or something like that. Restrictions on free speech in the US are nearly always content-neutral when it comes to politics or ideology (although not so much commercial or other types of speech).
This is the objectionable thing to Americans, I think. Germans are prohibiting some portion of the population from even trying to even convince anyone they're right. If that's allowed, a majority of the population can prevent minority views from even being heard or considered. It might be Nazism today, but it could easily be anything else tomorrow (witness prosecution of some people speaking out against Islam). Cigarette companies might not be able to advertise as much as they'd like in the US, but they can try to convince people to change their minds about that.
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