93 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
93 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
|
# Google Analytics Removed from GitLab.com Instance
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
*This was originally written as a guest post for GitLab in November of 2015,
|
||
|
|
but they [decided not to publish it][gitlab-merge].*
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
[gitlab-merge]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/merge_requests/1094
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Back in May of of 2015, I [announced GitLab's liberation of their Enterprise
|
||
|
|
Edition JavaScript][ggfs] and made some comments about GitLab's course and
|
||
|
|
approach to software freedom. In liberating GitLab EE's JavaScript, all
|
||
|
|
code served to the browser by GitLab.com's GitLab instance was [Free (as in
|
||
|
|
freedom)][free-sw], except for one major offender: Google Analytics.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
[ggfs]: https://about.gitlab.com/2015/05/20/gitlab-gitorious-free-software/
|
||
|
|
[free-sw]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Since Google Analytics was not necessary for the site to function, users
|
||
|
|
could simply block the script and continue to use GitLab.com
|
||
|
|
[ethically][free-sw]. However, encouraging users to visit a project on
|
||
|
|
GitLab.com while knowing that it loads Google Analytics is a problem both
|
||
|
|
for users' freedoms, and for their privacy.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
<!-- more -->
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
GitLab is more than service and front-end to host Git repositories; it has a
|
||
|
|
number of other useful features as well. Using those features, however,
|
||
|
|
would mean that GitLab.com is no longer just a mirror for a project---it
|
||
|
|
would be endorsed by the project's author, requiring that users visit the
|
||
|
|
project on GitLab.com in order to collaborate. For example, if an author
|
||
|
|
were to use the GitLab issue tracker on GitLab.com, then she would be
|
||
|
|
actively inviting users to the website by telling them to report issues and
|
||
|
|
feature requests there.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
We cannot realistically expect that anything more than a minority of
|
||
|
|
visitors will know how to block Google Analytics (or even understand that it
|
||
|
|
is a problem). Therefore, if concerned authors wanted to use those features
|
||
|
|
of GitLab, they had to use another hosted instance of GitLab, or host their
|
||
|
|
own. But the better option was to encourage GitLab.com to remove Google
|
||
|
|
Analytics entirely, so that _all_ JavaScript code served to the users is
|
||
|
|
[Free][free-sw].
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
GitLab has chosen to actively
|
||
|
|
[work with the Free Software movement][ggfs]---enough so that they are now
|
||
|
|
considered an [acceptable host for GNU projects][gitlab-gnu-criteria]
|
||
|
|
according to [GNU's ethical repository criteria][gnu-repo-criteria]. And
|
||
|
|
they have chosen to do so again---headed by Sytse Sijbrandij (GitLab
|
||
|
|
Inc. CEO), Google Analytics has been removed from the GitLab.com instance
|
||
|
|
and replaced with [Piwik][piwik].
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## More Than Just Freedom
|
||
|
|
This change is more than a commitment to users' freedoms---it's also a
|
||
|
|
commitment to users' privacy that cannot be understated. By downloading and
|
||
|
|
running Google Analytics, users are being infected with some of the most
|
||
|
|
[sophisticated examples of modern spyware][ga-wikipedia]: vast amounts of
|
||
|
|
[personal and behavioral data][ga-google] are sent to Google for them to use
|
||
|
|
and share as they wish. Google Analytics also tracks users across [many
|
||
|
|
different websites][ga-popularity], allowing them to discover your interests
|
||
|
|
and behaviors in ways that users themselves may not even know.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
GitLab.com has committed to using [Piwik][piwik] on their GitLab instance,
|
||
|
|
which [protects users' privacy][piwik-privacy] in a number of very important
|
||
|
|
ways: it allows users to opt out of tracking, anonymizes IP addresses,
|
||
|
|
retains logs for limited time periods, respects [DoNotTrack][eff-dnt], and
|
||
|
|
more. Further, all logs _will be kept on GitLab.com's own servers_, and is
|
||
|
|
therefore governed solely by
|
||
|
|
[GitLab.com's Privacy Policy][gitlab-privacy]; this means that other
|
||
|
|
services will not be able to use these data to analyze users' behavior on
|
||
|
|
other websites, and advertisers and others will know less about them.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Users should not have to try to [anonymize themselves][eff-ssd] in
|
||
|
|
order to maintain their privacy---privacy should be a default, and a
|
||
|
|
respected one at that. GitLab has taken a strong step in the right
|
||
|
|
direction; I hope that others will take notice and do the same.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
*Are you interested in helping other websites liberate their JavaScript?
|
||
|
|
Consider [joining the FSF's campaign][freejs], and
|
||
|
|
[please liberate your own][whyfreejs]!*
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
[eff-dnt]: https://www.eff.org/dnt-policy
|
||
|
|
[eff-ssd]: http://ssd.eff.org/
|
||
|
|
[freejs]: https://fsf.org/campaigns/freejs
|
||
|
|
[ga-google]: https://www.google.com/analytics/standard/features/
|
||
|
|
[ga-popularity]: http://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/traffic_analysis/all
|
||
|
|
[ga-wikipedia]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Analytics
|
||
|
|
[gitlab-featurse]: https://about.gitlab.com/features/
|
||
|
|
[gitlab-gnu-criteria]: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/repo-criteria-discuss/2015-11/msg00012.html
|
||
|
|
[gitlab-privacy]: https://about.gitlab.com/privacy/
|
||
|
|
[gnu-repo-criteria]: https://www.gnu.org/software/repo-criteria.html
|
||
|
|
[mtg]: http://mikegerwitz.com/
|
||
|
|
[piwik]: https://piwik.org/
|
||
|
|
[piwik-privacy]: https://piwik.org/privacy/
|
||
|
|
[whyfreejs]: https://www.gnu.org/software/easejs/whyfreejs.html
|