I know we all do semi-anonymous logging (server logs, Google Analytics, etc.). However, on one of our external web applications, we have some non-reproducible errors that the external users report occasionally. I chalk most of them up to a PEBKAC errors, but I always investigate the problem to see if I have the same problem.
While talking to the internal user that manages it, she mentioned that it is too bad that we can’t figure out what browser the person is using without having to call them. I told her that actually we can, but normally it is anonymous data that isn’t directly linked to a user.
I am curious, is this practice frowned upon? Actually tracking what browser an identified user is using to fill out our forms and log that information with their data. Nothing more than what is logged normally, just linked to a user.
Thoughts?
I’ve never heard of this being an invasive practice. So long as you don’t advertise this data with any kind of solid identity to match then what’s the harm? It’s not like you’re selling it to anyone or using this info to try to get them to switch browsers or anything.