German Officials Charge Google Analytics Breaks Privacy Laws

Zeit Online reports that Google Analytics has come under fire for privacy law violations in Germany. The authorities are even going so far as to threaten legal action against webmasters who maintain Google Analytics on their sites. This is just another link in a chain of embarrassing complaints against Google. Of course I’m referring to the Google Buzz issue. I won’t get too far into that, but come on. Google gives you Gmail for free. It does not belong to you in the first place. Don’t go crying because they wanted to shove another product down your throat.

The Germans have a history or Google hatin’. Back in October of 2008 there was a case in Hamburg against Google Image Search in which a district court ruled in favor of two men who said their copyrights had been infringed upon.

Anyway…To me, Google, and Google Analytics is just a fact of life. I’ve come to expect that my browsing habits are being recorded on most sites and I’m okay with that. Besides there are plenty of ways to defeat GA such as turning off cookies or using a proxy. It would be a shame if the Analytics witch hunt spread across other European countries. It is such a powerful tool. So powerful and yet so misunderstood.