Thousands of US Gov't Websites Sharing Real-Time Data with Google

Pro Deo et Libertate on Substack ^ | April 13, 2022 | Catherine Salgado

[CatSalgado32]

The US government is apparently sharing sensitive data with Google through government websites—a fact openly admitted by “analytics.usa.gov”. The FDA, CDC, Air Force, NIH, USPS, FBI, FCC, and IRS are among the websites/government agencies that are providing data to Google in a way that raises serious concerns. From Reclaim The Net:

“Most of the major US federal government websites and numerous state and local government websites are sending real-time surveillance data back to Google as users browse their websites. Even websites where users are submitting sensitive or personal information, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) tips page and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website, contain tracking code that sends real-time visitor data back to Google.

Most of these government websites contain tracking code from the web traffic analytics tool Google Analytics. This code collects detailed user data which is sent to Google’s servers, analyzed, and presented to website owners via an online dashboard.”

The analytics.usa.gov website states:

“These data provide a window into how people are interacting with the government online. The data come from a unified Google Analytics account for U.S. federal government agencies known as the Digital Analytics Program. This program helps government agencies understand how people find, access, and use government services online. The program does not track individuals, and anonymizes the IP addresses of visitors.

Not every government website is represented in these data. Currently, the Digital Analytics Program collects web traffic from around 400 executive branch government domains, across about 5,700 total websites, including every cabinet department. We continue to pursue and add more sites frequently.”

Oh, it “does not track individuals!” Because we can thoroughly trust Google and the government not to lie to us. After all, this is the government that was making a database of very sensitive personal information from employees filing Covid vaccine religious exemption requests.

This is particularly interesting in light of the fact that former Google CEO (until 2018) and tech billionaire Eric Schmidt recently called for tech companies to get more involved with “national security,” saying, “The tech industry needs to support it.” Schmidt has helped or worked for both the Obama and Biden administrations and has deep ties to the defense industry going back years.

My question is—for how many years has Google been working directly with the US government to the detriment of US citizens? And if it goes back to Schmidt’s time as Google CEO (and it does seem that the Digital Analytics Program has been around since 2016). . .Hillary Clinton’s campaign spied on Donald Trump, including by “min[ing] Internet data,” and Schmidt tried to help Clinton’s campaign. We’re supposed to trust these people and organizations with our data?

Read my full article on Substack!

[coloradan]

In a corporatist society, there is no difference between government power and corporate power. By the same token, corporate attempts to censor are equivalent to government attempts to censor. (But, only the latter are officially forbidden by the First Amendment.)

[Chode]

every cloud, has a dark lining...

[rigelkentaurus]

Google. Isn’t it just a front organization for the NSA/CIA?

As a company their search is good, better than the competition when it is not being manipulated by Google. However, their other software is junk. Google sheets - horrible spreadsheet. Lotus 123 and Quattro Pro were better 20 years ago. Excel and OpenSource spreadsheets are vastly better. Google maps and waze - the maps are great, Waze user reporting is super, but the navigation software is junk. No waypoint management, no route storing, cannot solve the salesman route, cannot make a route with more than 10 stops in Maps and 1 in Waze. Goodness, Garmin had those solved well more than a decade ago, and Google does not even make an attempt to improve their software.

[Cold Heart]

Murphy was an optimist

[BenLurkin]

“[T]he whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.”

[packagingguy]

Info on searches could be use for industrial espionage. Patent and NIH literature searches for example.

[Chode]

100%

[semimojo]

Because we can thoroughly trust Google and the government not to lie to us.

If they're going to lie to us why wouldn't they just deny they're collecting data at all?