Google Analytics use in the New Zealand 2018 Online census
Brendan Seerup made this Official Information request to Statistics New Zealand
The request was successful.
From: Brendan Seerup
Dear Statistics New Zealand,
I would to know what information is collected and submitted to the google analytics service for a user filling out and submitting their 2018 census information online (https://www.census.govt.nz)
Yours faithfully,
Mr Seerup
From: Info Mailin - Shared Mailbox
Statistics New Zealand
Thank you for contacting Statistics New Zealand.
We will respond to your enquiry within 2 working days.
If your enquiry is urgent, please call us on 0508 525 525.
Regards
Information Centre Team
Statistics New Zealand Tatauranga Aotearoa
Kind regards,
Information Centre.
Statistics New Zealand Tatauranga Aotearoa
From: Jarrod Williams
Statistics New Zealand
Dear Mr Seerup,
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your official information request dated 24 February 2018 requesting what information is collected and submitted to the google analytics service for a user filling out and submitting their 2018 census information online (https://www.census.govt.nz)
We received your request on 24 February 2018. We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 23 March 2018, being 20 working days after the day your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.
Your request is being handled by myself, Jarrod Williams, in the Office of the Government Statistician and Chief Executive. If you have any queries, please feel free to contact me using the details in the signature below. If any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request, please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into account.
Nāku iti noa, nā,
Jarrod Williams
Advisor – Office of the Government Statistician and Chief Executive | Kaiwhakamaherehere – Tari o te Kaitatau a te Kāwanatanga me te Tumuaki
Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa
DDI +64 4 931 4943 | +64 21 731 316 | stats.govt.nz
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From: Jarrod Williams
Statistics New Zealand
Dear Mr Seerup
Please find attached the response to your request dated 24 February 2018.
Nāku iti noa, nā,
Jarrod Williams
Advisor – Office of the Government Statistician and Chief Executive | Kaiwhakamaherehere – Tari o te Kaitatau a te Kāwanatanga me te Tumuaki
Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa
stats.govt.nz
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From: Brendan Seerup
Dear Jarrod Williams,
Hi there Jarrod,
Thanks for your reply. Your response seems to speak to the general census website and not the pages where census data is entered and submitted by users.
Can we clarify what information is submitted to the google analytics service for users filling out the census questions and submitting their results?
Yours sincerely,
Brendan Seerup
From: Jarrod Williams
Statistics New Zealand
Good afternoon,
Apologies for the lack of clarity in the original response.
The information we provided in our previous response also relates to the Census pages where information is input and submitted. Google Analytics is used to collect information about when these are being used, for how long, and on what devices. None of the responses to questions entered by users are sent to Google Analytics, however.
Please let me know if you have further questions.
Nāku iti noa, nā,
Jarrod Williams
Advisor – Office of the Government Statistician and Chief Executive | Kaiwhakamaherehere – Tari o te Kaitatau a te Kāwanatanga me te Tumuaki
Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa
DDI +64 4 931 4943 | +64 21 731 316 | stats.govt.nz
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Andy Gardner left an annotation ()
Not only did they have Google Analytics running on every page of the Census Data Gathering site, but the site itself was run from servers in the USA.
I was horrified to find this and thought the Privacy Commissioner would be equally horrified. How wrong I was...
email to enquiries@privacy.org.nz ...
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Dear Sir/Madam,
It has been brought to my attention that the internet servers used for the collection of data for the 2018 Online Census were operating from the United States of America.
This brings me to question the ability of the Government Statistician to enforce the relevant sections of the Statistics Act 1975 regarding privacy of information.
Did they obtain statutory declarations of secrecy from:
Every person who can gain physical access to the computers in the data center in the USA that the data is stored?;
The persons employed by the U.S. independent contractor who have remote access to the computers?;
Google employees who have access to the information that Google has gleaned from the Google Analytics javascript running on every page?
Can the Statistician reveal exactly what information Google has extracted and stored and what they intend to do with that information?
Could you please advise how I can go about obtaining answer to the above questions.
Thank you,
Andrew Gardner.
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I thought having given them that info they would pick up the ball and run with it, but all I got back was a rather uninterested ...
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Hello Andrew
Thanks for your enquiry. To answer those questions you will need to put them to Statistics NZ. Their website has some contact options here
https://www.stats.govt.nz/contact-us. Once you do make contact with them I suggest that you request to talk with their privacy officer. That person will most likely not be able to answer your questions themselves but I expect would consult with colleagues to collate the information.
I also point you to a privacy impact assessment commissioned by Statistics NZ. I note however that the PIA does not to to the level of detail necessary to answer your questions.
https://www.census.govt.nz/assets/Upload...
Regards
Colin
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I thought the Privacy Commissioner would have been all over this like a rash. How wrong I was!
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Nigel Jones left an annotation ()
Their response is talking about the general Stats site it seems and not the Census site, to which there are (IMO) large ethical implications if Google Analytics was running on, they really haven't answered your question in my opinion.
If they did mean the Census site, they failed to clarify if it's the whole site, or the site excluding any census form pages.
Link to this