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Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
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Elinor Mills

Less than a week after launching its free Web analytics service, Google said it is temporarily limiting the number of new sign-ups, citing "extremely strong demand." "We hope to make new sign-ups available very shortly," a Google representative said, without elaborating.

The service got off to a bumpy start, with customers reporting that they couldn't log on and access their data. The service lets companies see exactly how visitors interact with their Web site and how advertising campaigns are faring.

The hosted service relies on technology from San Diego-based Urchin, which Google acquired in March. The Urchin product had formerly been priced at $200 a month.

"I guess I kind of feel like a jerk for bitching about this. They are, after all, giving it away for free," one customer wrote in an e-mail. "I just (wish) they would have executed better. Best I can tell my old account is gone."