Browser Plug-In Found Selling User Browsing Histories

[engine]

The Web of Trust browser plug-in has been found selling user browsing history data, which it had indicated was anonymous. However, following an investigation, user data was identified in the data sample.
Subsequently, the browser plug-in was removed from a number of web browsers.
[theregister.co.uk...]

[topr8]

i know nothing about that particular company or any other company who offers browser plugins...
but quite honestly, if something is 'free' what do you expect ... i'm always suspicious of what might happen to the data on a free service. in the case of a browser plugin, they get a lot of data!

entirely OT but that's why i'd never use google analytics, or any other such service on my website/s, it seems to me insane to give away all your data when there are other alternatives

[keyplyr]

Ironic isn't it.

I saw their UA in my logs a few times and subsequently took a look at the Web of Trust website. Saw my site had several good reviews. Added another :)

[ogletree]

@topr8 Is there an analytics platform that can compare to GA that does not cost a fortune. I do AdWords consulting and training and there are a few things that you just can't do unless you have GA or very expensive or difficult.

[topr8]

i find piwik works for me, as an overview, probably isn't powerful enough for some.

i also have a custom system set up server wide which is developed in house.

[keyplyr]

Is there an analytics platform that can compare to GA that does not cost a fortune

I use raw server logs and a couple lines of code to pull specific UAs, IPs, certain behavior, mal-formed header fields, etc. IMO anytime you use 3rd party software, you are stuck with the inherent limitations.

[graeme_p]

"if something is 'free' what do you expect"

Plenty of paid for software tracks users.

That said, I am suspicious of software that is free of cost, but is not open source.