The theory goes like this.... Some think that google analytics could be bad for your site. They think that google is giving out this software for free for the purpose of keeping a tap on your site. which kind of make sense. Think about it, they can't have a human review on every site that is out there. could they be collecting data on your site? what do you guys think?
Hey man, Google analytic can never be bad because now Google analytics has become more intelligent as compare than past.
Google Analytic is Not Bad .. The Basis is to track your Site and the inbound Links that you have in your site.. its mainly useful for seo purpose to track the details
This sounds a little like some conspiracy theory. Google Analytics are very helpful, and don't affect your site in any way. If google wants information on users they have other ways of getting it. In terms of getting information about your visitors nothing beats Google Analytics, so whatever possible "data collection" risks there could be, it's still worth it.
I'm not a techy person but I've figured out that if G wants to spy on me, it has lots of ways to do so. I can't say whether or not Analytics gives them another portal to collect your data but obviously, if you connect it to your site, it has to collect your site's data in order to produce your traffic reports. If you're nervous about the all-knowing, all-seeing Google powers then simply opt for a private or anonymous browser/network, like Tor Project or I don't know, Google it.
The usual tinfoil hat, bitter SEO/webmaster/black hat BS as they got caught out spamming (probably 85% live in denial that they did anything wrong - but would you go to a restaurant and vandalise it with adverts for your own restaurant?). They are not out to get individual sites based upon these stats. You pretty much stated it - having a human review is impossible and to accurately make sense of the stats one is required. For example (and I use this as it's one quite a few people don't understand properly), a can have a high bounce rate and relatively short visit duration whilst still answering the searcher's question. In the end, the only meaning for this is about visitors. For a site to make money, these need to be real humans, so why worry about that? Instead of trying to trick Google (and in turn the site's visitors/audience), people should be more concerned with delivering a site for their audience and reaching out to them, building relationships, establishing contact with people who write for sites that compliment (rather than compete with) theirs, and so on.