Understanding the Implications of Web Analytics

Before installing a Web Analytics package, the service will ask for acceptance of its Terms of Service. It is vital to read and understand the Terms of Service before accepting it. If necessary, hire a lawyer to help determine the impact of the Terms of Service on the site. Understanding this document is vital to understanding what is being invited into the site with the installation of the web analytics package.

To install an analytics package that operates by page tagging, a piece of HTML or JavaScript code must be inserted into pages to be tracked. Most of the time, these are harmless pieces of code that simply send the activity data back to the reporting server. However, in some cases, this may include hidden advertisements or links that may affect the ranking of the site in the major search engines.

In other cases, the analytics provider may resell or otherwise use the user data collected for their own purposes. If the site’s privacy policy does not allow for providing user data to third parties, there may be legal issues involved in the use of such an analytics package. Even log parsers installed on the server itself may send information about the site users home to the software company that provided the package.

Reading the Terms of Service carefully should reveal any unwanted business practices on the part of the analytics provider. This will allow decisions to be made in regard to changing the privacy policy of the site or the selection of a different Analytics Package.

Google Analytics honors Google’s openly posted privacy policy that clearly states that the user data is private and anonymous. A guarantee like this in the Terms of Service is necessary to ensure the privacy of site users.

For more information, see the Google Analytics Terms of Service or the Google Privacy Center.