(no subject)

[owl]

THEY'R IN UR LJ TRAKIN UR STATS

I've just been to the console and set stats disable to 1 like it says in the entry.

Comments

[carissa-lynn.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly familiar with the web (I'm a web designer), and I have to say this is not really a big deal. Since they own the servers, they already have access to this type of information. They're just organizing it, is all.

And stats are stats, not content. They pose very little threat to your privacy.

[snarkel.livejournal.com]

I wish they'd give us a stat tracking feature already. :P

But yeah, overall this is fairly harmless stuff.

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads up!

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not really feeling the lack of privacy here. But thanks for the heads-up anyway -- it was amusing reading the comments.

It's really no big deal

[leia-naberrie.livejournal.com]

They already have access to it anyway, they're just trying to make use of the information. I actually like the idea of stats. I'd love to have some sort of hit counter for my LJ.

[legionseagle.livejournal.com]

It looks like they've just about managed to bring themselves within the relevant law (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2003/20032426.htm) (of course, being LJ they wouldn't give a damn about whether they were compliant with EU law or not, since they don't believe the rest of the world exists) but I've disabled the stats in any event. I was particularly annoyed by the fact that they announced this in lj_biz where I wouldn't have found it had it not been for you mentioning it, and by their announcement that among the stats that they'd be collecting weren't merely the on-site statistics but details about where one went after leaving the site. Given their evident belief that the TOS allow one to be suspended for linkage to off-site content, I think they're preparing to take this one a step further.

[owl]

The thing that bothered me was that they track where you go to after you leave LJ. ZOMG you went to a site that has a fic with Harry and Ginny having sex at 17—ban time! Paranoid, I know, but I prefer to not be tracked.

[owl]

Glad to be of use. Yes, it was the off-site linkage that bothered me. Obviously LJ own the site and can see anything you do on it if they look for it, but I don't like the thought of where I leave to being used.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I very seldom leave LJ for anywhere as I tend to just open new tabs and close old ones instead, but I'm guessing they can also follow 'open link in new tab'?

Except that I've turned the stats off for my main LJ, and will get round to turning them off for the fic LJ when I'm next logged in as it.

[owl]

Yeah, and not track where we're linking to.

[owl]

Yes, people are really freaking out over on the lj_biz post, accusing Sa of data mining, etc.

[legionseagle.livejournal.com]

Well that might - just might - be because they're using data-mining software (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,383524,00.asp).

The rehview of Omniture SiteCatalyst linked to has the headline "SiteCatalyst Tracts What Web Shoppers Are Doing and promises

Once your site is wired to SiteCatalyst, you can analyse traffic and all kinds of commerce statistics. With a great many default parameters, this package supplies infomation on everything from basics like page views (available from hourly to yearly periods) to referring sites and search engines to in-depth breakdowns of your custo

[legionseagle.livejournal.com]

Sorry - posted too soon. "customer's browsers". Essentially this tool is too complicated and expensive for the limited ro le we're told it's being deployed for; it promises, according to its makers, real-time analysis on an IP- address level of site "visitor" behaviour.

[owl]

I think data mining was not what I was actually thinking off. Selling your credit card numbers, possibly on Ebay.

Re: It's really no big deal

[owl]

I use sitemeter.com. I think it does most things LJ is ever likely to give us, seeing that they're never going to match visitors to LJ usernames.

[owl]

You're welcome!

[carissa-lynn.livejournal.com]

I don't think they can ban you for that because they won't be able to know it was you...just someone visiting your page.

Where does it say they track where you go when you leave LJ? The only way I think they'd know is if you clicked on a link from LJ. From that post, and the posts here, I don't see that it collects any different information than the stats I use on my sites (which come with the hosting package so there is nothing nefarious going on there) except that it might match it up to your IP.

It's certainly within your rights to be cautious, though, and understand your decision to opt out. I just look at it as nothing you do on the internet is particularly private anyway (you know your ISP keeps up with everything right?), so this announcement doesn't trouble me.

[owl]

I know about the ISP and nothing is really private on the internet, but I can get a new ISP more easily than a new perm account :D I'm just being paranoid, really.

[anstruther.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip-off. Like most posters here, I'm not that bothered about them knowing where I've been on LJ, but the thought of them following me on to the web is a bit off-putting...

[legionseagle.livejournal.com]

Well, admittedly it's probably only those pinkos at the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB112248279507797567-Vjb1yq7Q_XKy8jZDQn8BGMiA_KA_20050829.html?mod=tff_article) scaremongering, but this account of Omniture's use of what is, in essence, spyware to aid their corporate customers target their marketing efforts more effectively (which, cutting through the lj_biz flannel, is what's going on here; they're looking to find more effective ways to make money out of us) means that I'm certainly not alone in being concerned about this.

[owl]

I'm not really concerned about getting booted from LJ, I am annoyed at more thirdparty tracking. It's a depressing thought that there are people who spend their lives creating spyware. Hmm, I must take a look at my adbloacker and cookie manager settings again. Hurrah for firefox extensions.