Journal: Google analytics safe to use?

In the last few weeks, I've seen this error several times when I try to get to a slashdot article via RSS feed:

From what I've been able to see, when Google Analytics has an issue, it is actually preventing viewers from seeing the Slashdot site. I've been considering using it on a couple of my sites, but I have to say - this makes me nervous. Would I really be handing this much control over my readers' experience to Google if I started to use Analytics? Or is this 'feature' something that must specifically be enabled?