Google Analytics could be banned in Norway(techcrunch.com)

6 pointsby drickster14 anni fa1 comments

Google Analytics could be banned in Norway

http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/20/google-analytics-could-be-banned-in-norway/

1 comments

ThJ14 anni fa

Norwegian here. This article is missing some major context. The Norwegian Data Protection Bureau merely stated that it believes the Norwegian Revenue Service and Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund are using Google Analytics illegally. These are high security Internet services used by almost every citizen in Norway.

The reason that Norway is implementing the directive is not because it simply feels like it, but because this EU directive has been implemented in the European Economic Area and not only the EU. The EEA is basically a semi-EU membership where a country has to implement EU directives in return for some EU trade benefits. We're in it because, although Norway voted no to an EU membership in 1992, the government was a big fan of the idea, so it sort of snuck us in through the back door anyway.

My angle on the Analytics issue is that I think it's sad that major Norwegian government agencies are apparently not capable of or willing to develop or install their own statistics tools. I think it says a lot about the state of the Norwegian technology sector that it can't seem to develop its own solutions for its small 5 million population. The government contracted the development of the online tax form system (Altinn) to Accenture, and it still crashed spectacularly under load.

I imagine that large American cities have these types of systems deployed routinely and uneventfully.

(On that note... I really want to work in Silicon Valley. There is no place like it anywhere in Europe. A major Valley company has been doing phone interviews with me, but they're dragging their feet, as they'd have to deploy me somewhere in Europe for a year before they could transfer me, as I don't have a college degree, and it looks like their legal team isn't willing to consider that option, even if the management is.

I speak fluent English. I'm from a country that's not unlike Canada. I understand American values more than most. I can go to the US on a business/vacation trip for 3 months without applying for a visa. I can contribute actual value. If I wanted to mooch off the state, Norway is actually much better for that. But nope. I can't live and work in the United States. Go figure!)