We use here some Google fonts as they are smoother looking than their equivalent OS fonts. However, we host the WOFF file here and not there.

We at first did what we are supposed to do with a link like:

        http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Inconsolata

which lessens the load on our (host's) server. But just what else does that do?

Well, two things are apparent: millions of websites are reading that font; all of our visitors are doing so too.

"So?" someone just emailed us.

Well, two things are (perhaps not so) apparent: millions of requests for one file is, well, millions of requests for one file; all of those millions of requests are being tracked by Google.

Google knew of every one of your visits to our pages.

This became apparent when Google phoned home so to speak.

First, I had here some "Admin" code a long time ago. (As that's what everyone did back then; though even then I did know enough to rename the Admin entry point; but more on that elsewhere.) Then, as I became obsessed with Apache log files (isn't everyone?), I thought, "Ya know, it'd be nice to not have all my Admin page access logs here."

So, I created a subdomain to the Admin point for, you know, Admin purposes — with Apache a subdomain means a separate log file for it. It was nice. And that subdomain was only used by me and never linked ever in any page on this (or any other) Website.

And Google indexed that subdomain.

That's right, Google indexed it. Google requested that never published website namr and started reading all of it's files! Why? How? Because of the googleapis.com font link.

So, I'd Browse to this.website.net, thinking I was all alone and being peacable, but I was also "Browsing" to fonts.googleapis.com, and they knew that!

This is the Internet: Go to one Website and you go to them all.

1. A potential bottleneck which is why Google has acres of massive server farms all over the country.
2. No longer in existence.