Originally Posted by Forkbeard

The whole idea is crazy, and I don't understand why StatsRemote is as popular as it is.

Think about it. Is there *anyone* in the world who would benefit from knowing everything about your monthly adult webmaster income? A tax man, an ex-wife, a creditor, a competitor, anyone?

Stats Remote and similar programs put all your privacy eggs in one basket, and then wraps it up in a nice neat ribbon. Now all it takes to breach your privacy is one poorly-kept password or one subpoena.

For the truly paranoid, think about this. If you were a tax agent in one of the countries that taxes income, wouldn't setting up a service like this be a most excellent sting operation? People pay *you* for the privilege of giving you access to true income stats to compare against their annual income reports. Sweet. How well do you know the owners of Stats Remote? And even if you've drank beer with them, can you be *sure* they haven't been pressured or induced into installing a reporting module on their back-end database? Or hired, all unwitting, a programmer who was working a second job for a snoop agency?

I'm not paranoid enough to think this has happened, but I'm cautious enough to be aware that it *could* happen. No thanks, I'll check my stats by hand. Not because I have anything to hide, but because my stats are nobody else's fucking business.

I shake my head every time I see the words "Stats Remote." Jeeze.