Provide reasoning / explanation for utilizing Google Analytics for the Statusboard

[nikolajbaer]

As the statusboard is potentially getting more traffic, we might consider configuring an analytics platform such as Google. This decision can also extend to the brigade project index main page or final product as well.

That being said there are some considerations in adding 3rd party tracking. The goal of this issue / discussion is to understand the trade-offs, voice the concerns, and come to a group decision.

Reasons for Google Analytics:

• Current site is a single page app (SPA), so request logs don't really tell us much about traffic
• Google Analytics provides significant insight into user behavior, UI/UX breakdowns, sources of traffic, and feature usage

• Effort to do non-Google analytics information is both time-consuming, potentially not free, and quite likely less informative

  Concerns

  • Not everyone wants to be tracked, privacy concerns

  Compromise solutions:

  • Make sure to respect DoNotTrack ( https://allaboutdnt.com/ )
• Provide tracking notice so users can opt out

Please add your concerns / considerations on the trade-off!

[plocket]

I'll take the concerns side of things. In no particular order (the numbers are there to help clarify discussions):

1. We're finding in this day and age that data collection is causing problems in ways that our society has not anticipated.
2. Google analytics does collect more data than we would use and it all goes to Google. There are even some features that you can't turn off completely.
3. If services are going to be tracking information, they need to decide what information they're tracking, why they're tracking it, and how necessary it is to track it. For example, storing someone's legal information on a database is known to be high impact if that security is breached, but often there's really no way around it if you want to provide them the services they need to impact their lives positively. So:
   1. Have we validated the need for the data that we ourselves want to track?
   2. How strong is our need for each category of data google analytics will be tracking?
   3. How big of a positive impact on people's lives do we believe each category of data can achieve? (This isn't a question about every possible thing that could happen, just on the things we think are fairly likely.)
4. If services are going to track information, they should disclose what types information will be tracked (even if the service is not using all of the tracked information) and why they believe it is necessary to track that information.
5. If services are going to track information, they should require an opt-in of some kind from the user.

As Bonnie said, this might be an opportunity to start establishing conventions around how Code for America brigades handle user data.

That's all I can think of for now!

[nikolajbaer]

Hi Michelle,

Here is what I am thinking for collecting analytics, with an opt out and information for users who do not wish to participate.

1. Opt-Out pops out at the bottom, if user opts out then set a flag in local storage and reload
2. Link to https://www.eff.org/issues/do-not-track
3. Respect window.DoNotTrack
4. List out why we are using Google Analytics and what we collect / don't collect