Why I Don’t Allow Analytics

When browsing sites, I generally do not allow any sort of analytics to run.  I do this by using NoScript in Firefox.  If you have never used NoScript let me tell you a little bit about it.

NoScripts lets the user decide which domains will be allowed to run JavaScript.  It generally defaults to blocking all JavaScript at first.  There are two ways to tell it to allow JavaScript for a particular domain.  When on the actual page, there is a little icon which indicates if JavaScript is enabled.  Click on that icon and it opens a menu which allows the user to turn on or off any JavaScript that is included on that page.  This lets users run JavaScript for the site itself but not allow any third party analytics that might be attempting to run.

It is more intrusive to operate this way since the first time visiting a site requires the user to enable any domains he wants to allow JavaScript.  I generally allow JavaScript for the domain I am on but not for any third party.  This works most of the time.  Exceptions to this are things like embedded videos which require JavaScript for the domain where the video is hosted.  This requires some amount of knowledge.  Most users don’t really understand how JavaScript fits into the browsing picture.  So it probably isn’t for novices.

The big question is why.  There are two reasons I use this approach.  The first is to reduce exposure to malware.  Granted, this depends on what sorts of sites I visit.  Blocking third party JavaScript can reduce or eliminate redirects and navigation control that might take a person to a place that is bad.

The second reason is one of resources.  If I can operate with less JavaScript why not do it?  There is ZERO benefit to the user to run any analytics.  That is solely for the benefit of the website itself.

If you have not used NoScript and you are intrigued by the idea, I encourage you to give it a try.