Stats gathering and implicit personalization are not spyware. If it was, a majority of sites on the web would be spyware ridden, as these articles are implying that anything that uses backline reporting is spyware.
Hence: Google Analytics, Mint, Measuremap, Webtrends Live, Omniture Livestats, Google Adsense, Javascript widgets, Dashboard widgets, Konfabulator widgets, etc are all spyware.
Relax: by being on the Internet you implicate yourself as a vector for data. Every click, every HTTP request, every packet says something about you. Your screen resolution (but that’s private!), operating system (the shame). Hell, even your color depth (red faced). How its used is another story. If you want to be a data hermit, turn off the fucking DSL modulator and go back to sleep. You can not play on the net without at least some data that implies personal identity being transmitted with every single user action. It’s the price we pay for “hey, that’s neat!”
[tags]iTunes, Apple, Spyware[/tags]
Comments 6
Hi Ethan, thanks for the link to my blog.
As one of the pitchforkers, I’d like to point out that I never called iTunes spyware or malware.
Posted 12 Jan 2006 at 12:32 pm ¶No, you didn’t. Many did. You did however call Omniture a marketing company when they are actually an analytics company just like Web Side Story, Google, etc. Omniture is just like Mint. Do people disclose using Mint? Do people disclose using Google Analytics? No. They use all of these. Would you not go to a site that uses Omniture? Knowing Omniture’s client base, you’re going to be missing a lot of things on the net.
I’m not being an appologist for Apple, just wishing that people would fact-check more before going off on things, and also consider more than one implication of data acquisition.
Posted 12 Jan 2006 at 12:33 pm ¶It’s funny how much one’s sense of outrage hangs on the definition of “marketing company.” It sounds positively Clintonian. Try this: google “omniture marketing” and tell me what the first three hits are.
Posted 12 Jan 2006 at 1:36 pm ¶Well, I work at a record company for fucks sake, so I’m not immune to marketing
Omniture though is a tool FOR marketing, not a marketing company in and of themselves. We use them for analytics, which of course helps with marketing a record. We investigated all others (WSS, Google/Urchin, Webtrends) but went with Omniture for various (NOT BAD) reasons.
People are so protective of data on their computers, but still use credit cards, super market club cards, gas cards/tags and speedpass. It amazes me.
Posted 12 Jan 2006 at 1:55 pm ¶One monkey wrench to throw here: My iTunes library, filled with music ripped from my own CDs, is not the web. This ministore thing just showed up there the other day. It didn’t take me long to figure out how to turn it off, but it was an unwelcome solicitor at the door.
When I come to *your* site on *your* server, measure away. But, when you come into *my* library and start sticking bugs on *my* walls, I reserve the right to be a bit grumpy.
Granted, yes, iTunes came for free from Apple, and the boundaries between desktop and web are blurring, but the price I paid for my “hey, that’s neat” in this case was already charged to my account.
Posted 16 Jan 2006 at 5:35 pm ¶(But, on the other hand, I’m just grumpy and I don’t have a pitchfork. I’ve also implemented metrics and tracking using Omniture tech and others on plenty of websites in my work-a-day life, so I’m certainly no privacy monk.)
Posted 16 Jan 2006 at 5:39 pm ¶Post a Comment