Shockingly most US government and military websites contain Google Analytics, which sends information about every visitor, on every page, back to Google. Google combines this data with the information it has on that visitor, collected on other websites and in other Google products, and uses it across its products. By itself, the data sent by these websites to Google might be of little value, but Google identifies the visitor via his/her IP address and/or cookies, and adds this data to the user’s ever-growing profile. All of this is done without the knowledge or permission of the user.
Google and its subsidiary YouTube use this information for many purposes, the most benign of which is ad targeting. For example, one might target audiences who were interested in the information on a certain government website. Some Google insiders have direct access to this information.
Theoretically, Google employees can correlate visits to the FBI Tips website with other web activities by the same person, and to aid the persons of interest. Also theoretically, Google can use data from visits to courts’ websites to forecast litigation against it and its partners.
These are grave violations of our Constitutional rights, especially under the Fourth Amendment. This is also another way in which Google assumes the role of a state actor, which is still subject to all Constitutional restrictions on government powers. Continue reading Google Spies on .gov Sites

