To block the incoming requests based on the ‘Public Beta’ part of the user agent string will only help a few weeks. First: it will be gone after the final release (probably with Snow Leopard end of June). Second: it is a typical mistake of the Apple developer, so probably it will be fixed with next beta of Safari.

Based on the results the appropriate coding can be applied.

Then again, you might want to see such requests. In that case use a custom label in Sitestat to signal passive=yes during data collection so that you can segment on it. That also lets you capture if your pages are in an iframe of another site as that too can mess up numbers.

Makes sense?

/F

On the other side the clients of the web analytics companies do accept these technics of obfuscating. They are interested in the data. This means the web analytics business in the current situation is based on the agreement between two of three parties that it is acceptable to hide the real activities against the third party. In Germany we call this “Vertrag zu Lasten Dritter”.

In conclusion: This business needs a clear and easy to use technic for opt-out or much better opt-in. After that, the data will become more scruffy, but they will be still comparable. This is the exact situation which we have at print and tv.

If you say Omniture have to find out a way to remove the ghost measurements from Safari you say also: o man, it is so cool that the users have no clue about web tracking, Apple, please let us stay at this situation.