Comment by xp84
There seems to be a great deal of paranoia about what data is collected by Google, so I checked[1]:
> What does using the Google Fonts Web API mean for the privacy of my users?
> The Google Fonts API is designed to limit the collection, storage, and use of end-user data. The use of the Google Fonts Web API is unauthenticated and the Google Fonts API does not set or log cookies. Requests to the Google Fonts Web API are made to resource-specific domains, such as fonts.googleapis.com or fonts.gstatic.com. Font requests are separate from and don't contain any credentials sent to google.com while using other Google services that are authenticated, such as Gmail.
> When I embed Google Fonts in my website via the Google Fonts Web API, what data does Google receive from my website visitors?
> When end users visit a website that embeds Google Fonts, their browsers send HTTP requests to the Google Fonts Web API. [ snipped details of how HTTP works and headers like referrer ]
> For clarity, Google does not use any information collected by Google Fonts to create profiles of end users or for targeted advertising.
(There's also an answer to what they do that is different than statically hosting: [2])
[1] https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq/privacy
[2] https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq/privacy#what_are_the...
I'm guessing you read that and think, see they are awesome and privacy preserving! I read that and think much differently, but I'm obviously a pessimist here.
I really love this line:
> For clarity, Google does not use any information collected by Google Fonts to create profiles of end users or for targeted advertising.
Except they already have a profile of you, I promise. For instance, they explicitly don't say they don't use information from google fonts requests to update their existing profiles of you.