[Web4lib] [web4lib] survey on library website third party analytics privacy concerns

[Brian Tingle]

|There are a number of references to 'privacy concerns' in some of the
|responses.
|
|Do these concerns have any validity, or to they arise from uncertainty
|and insufficient understanding of the technologies used to gather these
|data?

I think that is an open question.  Like most things, there are trade offs.

As I understand it, German law considers IP addresses to be personally
identifying information, and .de web site operators are not allowed to
track this.

http://dees-club.com/google-analytics-german-privacy-paid-analytics-tools/

My libraries' current interpretation of privacy policy categorizes IP
addresses as personally identifying information.

Even if no personally identifying information is logged, research
suggests that with enough data tied to a specific yet not personally
identified user such as with the cookies used by google analytics,
data can be de-anonymized

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_scandal
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2007/12/securitymatters_1213

I think it is important that a) library privacy policies clearly
indicate the use of google analytics on their websites and b) make it
clear to end users that they may opt-out of behavioral tracking

http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en

I've put in a proposal to have a discussion on this topic at the
Digital Library Federation Fall Forum.

-- Brian