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DHS signs up for Google Analytics account

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Count the Homeland Security Department as the latest federal agency to sign up for a Google Analytics account.

The department, in a June 9 privacy impact assessment, disclosed that public affairs officials will start tagging public-facing DHS websites with Google code, in order to better "understand the interaction of the Department's website(s) visitors."

Google Analytics works by depositing a cookie onto visitors' computers; DHS says it's set the life of the cookie for 6 months.

The privacy impact statement repeatedly notes that users of Google Analytics cannot see the full Internet protocol address of website visitors--but presumably, that's information the DHS information technology staff has access to anyway.

For more:
- download the DHS Google Analytics privacy impact statement (.pdf)

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