Google Web Optimizer, Analytics and privacy - do we all really have such double standards?

(Minor rant):

I've been reading a lot about people getting worried that
Google the
Almighty will have even more data once they release their
new Web
Optimizer software - much like their privacy concerns about
Google
Analytics and search data in general.

But isn't this a massive case of double standards?

Don't most of us who run websites use some kind of analytics
programme?
Don't we want to know visitor behaviour? Don't we want to
know what
visitors respond to and how they use our site? So aren't we
guilty of
exactly the same thing?

We want to store and use user data so we can see what's
going on with
our customers ... so does Google. We can help our customers
better by
analysing their behaviour ... so can Google.

And is it really any different to what advertising agencies
and
business consultancies have been doing for years? If an
agency has 100
and runs lots of test they know what's going on in several
industries.
Isn't that what Google's doing? (It just has a fantasticly
large number
of clients of all sizes and in all industries).

Have I missed something? Do people really have grounds to be
annoyed at
Google about privacy when they want to do exactly the same
thing on a
smaller scale?


What does everyone else think? (Especially those who have
>1
client/website).


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the
Google Groups "SEM 2.0" group.

To post to this group, send email to SEM2googlegroups.com

**The moderators highly recommend you visit http://groups.goo
gle.com/group/SEM2 and log into the forum on the web, to
access the full range of posting, reading, and searching
options. To make your subscription "web-only" (no
email), you can set your preferences while logged into the
forum.**

To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
SEM2-unsubscribegooglegroups.com
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

I think you're misunderstanding the misgivings about giving
Google all
this data. It's not high moral ground... it's about pure
self-interest.
Just as in the economy in general: all individual companies
wish to
turn a profit, yet worries, fears, and even laws crop up
when companies
become so large that they violate "antitrust" laws
(and
self-preservation instincts in the ecosystem, laws aside).

If a Google gets large enough, they have that
Panopticon-like power.
They can see you, but you can't see them. And you can't see
what they
can see.

You've hit the nail right on the head. Many companies do
exactly the
same thing, on a smaller scale. What if the small family
farmer is
trying to grow crop X to turn "a fair profit, and a
little bit more"?
What if by contrast one company owns all the arable land in
the nation?
Of course scale matters, a great deal, and enormous scale
creates
fears. Not out of morality per se but out of practical
fears.

Checks and balances, and all. Power, etc. Everyone's always
on the
lookout for massive concentrations of power in one place;
something to
do with potential servitude. 


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the
Google Groups "SEM 2.0" group.

To post to this group, send email to SEM2googlegroups.com

**The moderators highly recommend you visit http://groups.goo
gle.com/group/SEM2 and log into the forum on the web, to
access the full range of posting, reading, and searching
options. To make your subscription "web-only" (no
email), you can set your preferences while logged into the
forum.**

To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
SEM2-unsubscribegooglegroups.com
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

All hail King Google!


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the
Google Groups "SEM 2.0" group.

To post to this group, send email to SEM2googlegroups.com

**The moderators highly recommend you visit http://groups.goo
gle.com/group/SEM2 and log into the forum on the web, to
access the full range of posting, reading, and searching
options. To make your subscription "web-only" (no
email), you can set your preferences while logged into the
forum.**

To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
SEM2-unsubscribegooglegroups.com
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---