Privacy experts and analysts warn government departments' use of Google Analytics may be allowing the world's biggest marketing company to harvest New Zealanders' private data.
Statistics New Zealand, Inland Revenue, the police, the Ministry of Social Development, Te Whatu Ora, councils and even RNZ are among the agencies using the service to track and report web traffic.
Ruth Hill reports.
In a statement Google has told RNZ Google Analytics does not identify individuals or track them across the web.
It says website owners, not Google, control what data is collected and how it is used, and the multinational complies with all local laws.
Government agencies using Google Analytics have told RNZ they have safeguards in place to ensure New Zealanders' privacy is protected.
