This is why some of you dislike Germans. Some of you.

Google is once again facing the possibility that it could run afoul of Germany’s strict privacy laws. The culprit this time? The web analysis tools of the US internet giant and other firms.

[For the newbies, Google Analytics is a free service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. It can track visitors from all referrers, including search engines, display advertising, pay-per-click networks, email marketing and digital collateral such as links within PDF documents. Just place analytics code in your website to make it work to grab the visitor information]

A group of German state and federal data protection experts is meeting this week to discuss whether the use of informational tools such as Google Analytics are legal according to German law.
The authorities fear that Google and other internet companies could compile profiles of millions of web users, detailing their interests, habits, consumer behaviours, as well as political and sexual preference. The paper added that what makes privacy experts nervous is the possibility that this data could be combined with fundamentally personal details such as addresses, bank account numbers and health insurance details.

The organisation argues such web analysis is illegal and that internet users should have the option to “opt out” of observation by tracking tools. (I raise my hand. Follow me, don’t follow me I’ve got my spine, I’ve got my orange crush)

Meanwhile Stuttgart data privacy lawyer Carsten Ulbricht told that such data analysis without user permission violated the country’s telecommunications law, which could mean that fines of up to €50,000 apply.

This is why some of you dislike Germans. Extreme bureaucracy combined with complexity. But sooner or later, you should realize the undisputed credibility. Graduate poeple. Graduate!

Courtesy:

www.google.com/analytics/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opt-out

http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20091126-23539.html