Comment by dzader
7 years ago
I'm curious what your concern with Google building this 'shadow profile' is if you're not worried about this data being leaked to a malicious actor - Is Google simply having this data a bad thing, and if so, why?
7 years ago
I'm curious what your concern with Google building this 'shadow profile' is if you're not worried about this data being leaked to a malicious actor - Is Google simply having this data a bad thing, and if so, why?
Is that really a question? Google creates global profiles of everyone for tracking and advertising.
Having a random developer create a shadow profile isn't the same.
The scale is vastly different and can be used to track you from site to site.
I know Google creates global profiles for tracking - and my question (which is the same as my original question) is why do you care? If that data is only used internally by google to serve you better ads why are you concerned with them having your data?
In short, because they’re doing so without my permission, and I resent that.
Even if a user trusts Google, because the data is digital and therefore permanent, there's no guarantee it will remain internal forever, whether that's because of a hack, a rogue employee, police/government pressure, or a change of ownership.
3 replies →
It's not just bad from a privacy PoV. By giving away signals to GA, you're actually underselling your user's data. Google can correlate your analytics with other's to place highly targetted ads for your visitors on other sites, stealing the attention your high-quality content generates, such that sites with big pockets for Google ad bidding and placement but otherwise only low-effort content (and Google itself, of course) make all the money.