Google spyware on FreeBSD Web site?

[Brett Glass]

Everyone:

Today, I received a rather shocking the announcement: The FreeBSD
Project's Web developer announced his intent to incorporate
corporate spyware into the FreeBSD.org Web site.

As you may or may not know, the so-called "Google Analytics" scripts
do more than analyze the traffic which goes to a Web site. They also
spy on its users, planting cookies in their browsers and tracking their
activities on the Web for the exclusive benefit of one corporation:
Google.

What's more, at least one organization which is paid to lobby for Google
in Washington, DC has announced that it does not intend to honor, and
does not recommend that Web sites honor, the "Do Not Track" header.
So, even if users are knowledgeable enough to cause their browsers to
generate this header (most are not), there is no reason to trust Google
to honor it.

The FreeBSD project should not allow or condone such behavior --
which is a serious security risk and violation of visitors' privacy. Nor
should it show favoritism toward a single corporation.

I'd like to ask that the FreeBSD project set a good example for others
by refusing to incorporate corporate spyware into its Web site. If it
is desirable to gather statistics regarding the site, there are ways
to do it that do not compromise visitors' privacy or execute invasive
spyware on their machines.

Sincerely,
Brett Glass