Anyway, after another Google session, I found something called Piwik.  Funny name, serious analytics.  Their mission is to create an open source Google Analytics replacement.  I’m not so much concerned with the GA replacement part as I am with the fact that I can host it on my own server – my own database where I can control (and be assured no one is giving up my data).  Now, I’m not saying that Piwik is quite at the level of GA yet, but they are sure on their way.  So much on their way, that I’ve already implemented Piwik on my sites and blogs (they have a WordPress plugin!) to get a good feel for it.  So far, I’m fairly impressed.

Give it a try.  Installation takes about five minutes (and reminds me a lot of installing WordPress), and configuration is as easy as typing in the site’s URL that is to be tracked, and pasting the JavaScript snippet on to your pages.  And, if you’re savvy, they have an open API that can be used to get to your data.

I’ll try to remember to write more later as Piwik gathers more data for me to dig through.