Just for some color commentary: Google Analytics is used to track site traffic and the flow of users into, out of, and through a site. You can also use it to track which pages cause people to buy things and click on ads.
Sometimes you will see it in random places like this because some webmaster is curious about page hits and doesn't want to pay their domain provider for some premium stats package, or maybe traffic data is not provided. So you sign up for Google Analytics and add a tracking script to your website which is free, but it's free because you're bartering your users' data for your site analytics.
It's not always done with a malicious or surveiling intent and honestly probably would amount to nothing, but God only knows what Google will do with that user data, so I think your instinct is correct that it's inappropriate for a commie site from an opsec perspective.
Just for some color commentary: Google Analytics is used to track site traffic and the flow of users into, out of, and through a site. You can also use it to track which pages cause people to buy things and click on ads.
Sometimes you will see it in random places like this because some webmaster is curious about page hits and doesn't want to pay their domain provider for some premium stats package, or maybe traffic data is not provided. So you sign up for Google Analytics and add a tracking script to your website which is free, but it's free because you're bartering your users' data for your site analytics.
It's not always done with a malicious or surveiling intent and honestly probably would amount to nothing, but God only knows what Google will do with that user data, so I think your instinct is correct that it's inappropriate for a commie site from an opsec perspective.
Yep, I don't doubt that it could have been innocent, but the fact that it's there regardless is unacceptable for commie sites. Thanks for your input!