PSA: By Default, Nintendo Now Collects Data Through Google Analytics On Switch eShop (North America)

Hm. That uh. That is indeed a thing now.

Dang, I better Google a workaround or maybe ask Siri or Alexa. That’ll teach them to steal my data!

I'll keep mine active. At least then we stand a chance of getting a better, more refined eshop in the long term by letting them peak into our browsing.

@nessisonett nice haha

I know some people are really bothered by these...but I struggle to care.
You want to see that I have no money and waste my time on Animal Crossing? Go for it, be my guest.

People who play NSFW games on Switch are sweating rn.

I guess people who is alarmed don't understand what Google Analytics is.

Anyway, if you are using any device online (Smartphones or Gaming Consoles or whatever) you must know you don't have any kind of privacy.

Privacy is now a privilege that only poor people who can't even afford a TV and that have never ever created a social network account, can really get. Anyone that owns any internet connected device, let me tell you, you don't have any kind of privacy.

I keep it enabled. I prefer Nintendo to collect data about my preferences and offer discounts and games that I like, rather that random garbage I wouldn't be interested in.

Not to mention people who worry about privacy have something to hide.

@Olmectron Everybody hears “tracking” and thinks that they’re Jason Bourne. I don’t mind a little tracking if it results in me seeing content that’s more relevant to me and my interests.

oh no now I'm positive that all I'll get recommended to me is Anime games and 3D-Platformers also Nintendo this doesn't make up for not fixing the eshop

This is a good thing then nintendo can see what games people are searching up like if more than 1 million people searched up among us then there want to put it on switch and it helps nintendo all around.

Every company does this whether they admit to it or not. We should assume all we do online is logged somewhere. By the US, Russian and Chinese governments, and most multinational corporations.

If you want something kept private do it offline.

So glad to see the level headed comments here, it’s genuinely refreshing. Tin foil hats lose their minds over this, but what naughty Nintendo might be up to surreptitiously tracking your eshop searches and purchases is about as threatening to your civil liberties as a stickup with a water pistol. The only way to go off grid is close down everything and move to somewhere under a thick tree canopy. Which is what some intrepid people do, and more power to them, if that’s what they want to do.

@LzWinky so wanting privacy is a bad thing?
I care about privacy, but this doesn't seem too big of a deal for me.

@nessisonett beat me to it LOL

Please insert your Passwords in here
If you all have nothing to hide, why worry?

To record every Click you do in the Eshop is the Equivalent to somebody following you in the Mall to note everything you stare at.

That has nothing to do with Paranoia or Tin Foil Hats, but there is a Line whats acceptable and what not.
You do spread Data also in real Life, when you buy something in Cash they can get Data with the Stock that has moved and calculate whats popular and whats not.
This is ok.
But to record every Step you do is just to much.

Everybody has something to "hide" , People want Freedom and feel unwatched.
Only because you can't see the abstract Problem that doesn't affect you directly at the Moment, doesn't mean that it isn't one and that you have to talk down People complaining for your Rights to have a normal Amount of Privacy.

@nessisonett I asked Trump and he says he's looking into granting me a pardon out of it.

This feels like 1 of those things Nintendo should have offered us 50 platinum coins for signing up for, like Facebook, Twitter, the newsletter, etc.

Sorry, on a plat coin kick today.

Giving it another 8 seconds of thought Ness' joke kinda holds true for me, I have 2 Fire tablets that ask me what I'd like to buy whenever somebody in the house says "Amazon" out loud, 2 Fire disc things that do the same thing, 5" Fire Show, a Fire TV w/ a mic on the remote, and a Google Chromecast w/ mic on the remote. I'm not sure there is anything about me Google doesn't already know. 🤷‍♀️

I noticed this a month or two ago. This wasn't introduced in the last update, just made more prominent.

@rjejr I like to imagine there’s a process running on a machine in a Finnish data farm whose sole job is to track my toilet paper supply.

I saw people making a huge deal about this on reddit, like it's a big issue. I thought the concept of analytics was something most would understand by now, but apparently that's not the case.

Analytics like this have nothing to do with privacy. It's not about "what can we learn from user1234" but rather "are people IN GENERAL clicking on button A? Do we need to move it so it's more useful?". Every web application uses them, my own system would not be as good if we didn't have a way of telling whether people are using the features we build, or if they are using them like we think they will. But alas, such is the internet.

@nessisonett You have a toilet paper supply? Whenever I leave the house to go buy groceries, 1, 2 maybe 3x a week, my wife is always telling me to pick up toilet paper. I don't hoard it, I only buy 1 each time, but she always tells me to make sure I buy toilet paper if I can find it.

So far I'm like 50% successful. Though I'm expecting things to get worse over the next 2 months. Ok, maybe I'm hoarding it a little, but there are 4 of us.

@RupeeClock you opted-in when you check the "I agree to the Terms" when created your account.

There is always that clause that says : "These changes can change without any warning"

These companies have far more data on you than you can imagine by now so it is really pointless to opt out of that *****.

Thank you! Turning off now.

You'd be naïve if you didn't know Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft was collecting your data.

Btw. this is just for telemetry. What you purchase, what you look for, what you have in your wishlist, where you clicked, when you clicked, from where you clicked. it's not a big deal, for real. If your data really concerns you, just get off the internet and throw your computer away. Cause company starts collecting data as soon as your computer is on.

@RupeeClock Bring nintendo to court. I tell where and When I wanna assist that.

@Wilforce presses X

Thanks for the heads-up, already turned off

Well at least it's for a good cause. This data will go where it's needed most.

Improved ad targeting algorithms for multibillion dollar corporations. 😊 🎉

Meh, if it results in more games that I would personally like being brought to my attention then I don't mind it here at all. seriously, what could I possibly search for on the Switch that i wouldn't like being collected for analytics? There isn't much to search for beyond games that I want to play.

@RupeeClock ho and also, the article clearly state in North America... And you linked laws from the UK, which doesn't apply. I'm from Canada and I don't think there are laws similar to that in the US or Canada... But it's not like I read every laws. So i don't know

This is a scum move and people deserve better than this sadly common behavior. Nintendo doesn’t need Google to collect this data for them they can easily do that, this is about them making money off our data. We need someone like Teddy Roosevelt or FDR to come fix this mess.

Can confirm it's there in a Japanese account in both places, thinking it might be everywhere outside EU/AU.

@LzWinky That’s a very strange assumption to make on a forum brimming with anonymity.

@rjejr Buy a bidet, best thing we ever got, barely use any toilet paper now. TMI, I know, but WORTH

@TG16_IS_BAE I'd give it a go but I have a feeling my wife isn't having any of that.

Pandemic might be the best thing to happen to bidets though, I've seen them come up here and there recently.

My bathroom in my ACNH house has a bidet. 😂

@rjejr That bit about your animal crossing house is amazing!! Hahaha

I'm going to die someday. If Google finds out I own "A Magical High School Girl" on Switch or lingered on the sale page for a Shoujo Visual Novel, that's okay by me.

If it were FOR Google, or YouTube, or Facebook, or whatever, I’d say heck no.

But for gaming companies? I like to share my data. It helps them determine overall trends and preferences which helps them make better decisions in shaping their future products and services. It also helps them identify problems with the user experience.

This should be opt in, not opt out.
Totally unacceptable. I refuse to share my data with google. I know google will miss use the data, as they have a well documented history of this.

@JaxonH If Nintendo was doing this with software and a service they created themselves then Google and the other big tech companies wouldn't have access to the data but Nintendo has partnered with Google on this, so Google has access to this data.

@LzWinky If you got any curtains or blinds in your home then you like privacy, better rip them down so your neighbors know you have nothing to hide!

Lol or they don't like the sun beaming on their face early in the morning...

@Tourtus
If that is true, I will likely opt out. But I wasn’t aware a third-party simply using the Google analytics service actually allowed Google themselves to use the information. But if you have information that shows that is indeed the case, please let me know so I can opt out. Google abuses their data collection to push company values (such as selectively providing vote reminders on the Google homepage only to those who their data suggests will vote how they want, which was proven in a secret study using Google’s own methods against them, which found out of a 700+ group sample of users pretty evenly split, every single D got a “Go Vote” homepage and everyone else did not. Which regardless of one’s own personal beliefs is dangerous. Big tech has too much influence and power. And we give them that power through our data.

So ya, if Google gets the data also, I’ll be opting out.

There's nothing wrong with checking what I do on my game console. If anything, my privacy is already being invaded.

@JaxonH

That doesn't really matter. Google are the middle men. Google will use your data to make more money and gather information about you.

I do thank NintendoLife for being this to our attention.

Of the 4 accounts I have

Australia - Not affected
North America / USA - Is affected
Japan - Is affected
UK - Not affected

I've obviously switched it off on those two accounts.
I will never let google take any of my data. I do use google for a couple of things (due to there being to better solution) however I do this in a virtualised sandbox where I monitor all traffic going in and out to make sure only app data is being transfered and none of my personal data is being taken.
The sandbox blocks all in and outgoing traffic apart from the specific things I need to use.

@JaxonH I heard about that kind of targeting, shady stuff to be sure, no matter who does it and for what purpose. Anyway I found this, https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/us/ According to this terms of use page, section 6 Information Rights and Publicity states that Google can see, retain and use the data Nintendo collects by using this service. Switch it off.

Google provides the service for "free" until the service records more than 10 million "hits", after that they charge the business using it. Through the "free" threshold I'm sure Google uses the data it collects to sell to advertisers or makes more of their own products or enhances them with the data. I'm sure they continue to collect data even after the business starts paying for the service. Perhaps they aim to use the data they get through Nintendo to improve their awful Stadia service.

If you want to break further away from big tech and their stalking habits, I suggest you use ProtonMail as your email provider from now on, everything is encrypted 100%, not even the owners of ProtonMail can see what is sent by, received and stored on their servers. I've been using it for years and I'm very happy with it. They block remote content in emails too, like tracking beacons. You can choose to load the remote content, blocking it usually makes the emails look broken. Also switch to Firefox as your browser if you don't already use it and download the multi-container add-on. I've heard Brave is also a good choice but I've also heard it's built with Google code...

@RupeeClock Which is why the terms for those accounts will say you have to live there or that these are contracts under the laws of that place. They don't check it, but it means you entered into the contract in bad faith and the GPDR doesn't protect you from yourself.

@RupeeClock Why would they need to? You entered into an agreement in the USA or Japan, and represented yourself as able to do that. If you want your contracts to be under European law you would need to enter into contracts in Europe.

If you buy a home in the USA as a EU citizen, your rights and responsibilities are under US law, not EU laws. They can sell your address the next second.

That applies in the EU.

If you lie about where you are that goes out the window. You could even be convicted of a crime.

I Don't know if nintendo is going crazy or madness..

That's pretty underhanded here.

@LzWinky - would you please post your home address and leave the door unlocked. You don't have anything to hide, right? I'm interested in looking around.

Still can't believe they play these kinda games to their users and supporters.

@Bl4ckb100d
I agree, people over-exaggerate these things, I hope the data it's collecting also helps make the eshop run smoother and give me more accurate reccomendations. I'm opting in.