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