Neil Stevens is wrong.

From Redstate.com:

It doesn’t even cross their minds that we might ask Google not to build the database to begin with, because it’s a basic law of databases that they can always be put to another purpose.

I can’t argue with the sentiment. Google creeps me out more every day. The problem is that Redstate.com uses Google Analytics. They effectively tell Google every time you visit their site.

When this is pointed out by commenters, the response is .. well,

You are spreading outright falsehoods through your repeated assertion that the data we’re talking about is from httpd logs.

And combined with your radical pacifist ranting before, I’ve had it with you.

Hit the contact form if you feel you’ve been wronged.

and …

You can’t be this stupid

…

I’d rather everyone get along, but I’ll settle for everyone united in hating me for being a jerky moderator.

Sorry, Neil, you are the moron here. Here’s the thing: Webserver logs tell me an awful lot about what goes on here. Once you leave my site I’ve no idea where you go or what you do. Now, if everyone hands this data over to a single entity (Google in this case), then they can plot your course across the internet. Enough logs and they can tell, when and where you work, where you live, given enough data they could tell you what time you take lunch.

The reason server logs are not dangerous is NOT because there’s not enough information in them, it is because the information is split up amongst thousands of different places.

In the interest of full disclosure, I used Google Analytics here for a few days. It made me feel dirty so I removed it. I use Awstats.