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Italian watchdog bans use of Google Analytics

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Re: Italian watchdog bans use of Google Analytics

#51

Post by eulenteufel »

olalonde wrote: post #42

I wish GDPR compliance would have been opt-in. For example, a GDPR compliant website could have sent a custom header indicating compliance, which the browser could have displayed in the address bar (a bit like HTTPS). Consumers would then have been free make the decision to not use websites which aren't GDPR compliant. Consumers who are more concerned about privacy could have set their browser to automatically block…

The Venn diagramm of the websites that have a Cookie-Popup right now and the websites that would choose to not be GDPR-compliant is a circle.

This change would mean most website couldn't be used by privacy concious people anymore and that the websites in turn are free to track the sh*t out of everyone else. From my perspective that sounds a lot worse.

The web is a mandatory part of public live for most people by now and it's good and healthy that corporations get push back for not respecting privacy.

Re: Italian watchdog bans use of Google Analytics

#53

Post by openplatypus »

While I should be happy with narrative (I run https://wideangle.co, GA alternative), let's be honest. It not banned. Nor is it illegal.

It is illegal to use it in such a way that results in Personal Data being siphoned to the US.

Is it hard? Yes. Outright illegal? Nah.

Re: Italian watchdog bans use of Google Analytics

#54

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

leephillips wrote: post #24

Good. US citizens should be, at least, disappointed that their government is so bad at protecting their privacy, that US law is so far behind the times. To those companies and people who find these EU decisions baffling or inconvenient: tough. If you had had respect for your users this would not be an issue. You would already not be spying on them. To website visitors: if you see a cookie banner, the site is asking p…

America is the LTS branch of Democracy.

Re: Italian watchdog bans use of Google Analytics

#55

Post by guelo »

rambambram wrote: post #34
tin7in wrote: post #12

We are based in Europe and self-host our analytics exactly for this reason. I feel this is just the beginning.

Congrats. We also chose to do the analytics ourselves. No tracking, no cookie banners, and probably better stats as well. One thing that Google did very cleverly was to only give GA users the search terms that visitors used to end up on their site.

Isn't the search term in the Referer header?

Re: Italian watchdog bans use of Google Analytics

#56

Post by lmkg »

corywatilo wrote: post #18

Italy is the 4th in a string of recent decisions across the EU. (We're tracking these cases on isgoogleanalyticsillegal.com along with details for each.) Note that it's not illegal to use GA entirely, just illegal to use in its default state which transmits PII to the US.

> just illegal to use in its default state which transmits PII to the US

As I mentioned in a sibling comment, this is technically true but complying with GDPR takes more than unchecking a few boxes. I've never seen any GA set-up that would remotely approach compliance. At minimum, you need to mask IP's before they reach Google, which means standing up a non-Google server to proxy all the hits. That is more complexity than 99+% of GA installations.

Re: Italian watchdog bans use of Google Analytics

#57

Post by olalonde »

closewith wrote: post #46
olalonde wrote: post #42

I wish GDPR compliance would have been opt-in. For example, a GDPR compliant website could have sent a custom header indicating compliance, which the browser could have displayed in the address bar (a bit like HTTPS). Consumers would then have been free make the decision to not use websites which aren't GDPR compliant. Consumers who are more concerned about privacy could have set their browser to automatically block…

Bizarre idea. Should websites be allowed to opt out of anti-fraud legislation? Anti-money laundering? Human rights protections?

No, just GDPR? I don't see any valid reason a user might want to "opt out" of anti-fraud legislation but I do see a reason why a user might want to access the non-GDPR web.

Re: Italian watchdog bans use of Google Analytics

#58

Post by drstewart »

leephillips wrote: post #24

Good. US citizens should be, at least, disappointed that their government is so bad at protecting their privacy, that US law is so far behind the times. To those companies and people who find these EU decisions baffling or inconvenient: tough. If you had had respect for your users this would not be an issue. You would already not be spying on them. To website visitors: if you see a cookie banner, the site is asking p…

What about Australian citizens?

Re: Italian watchdog bans use of Google Analytics

#59

Post by Forgeties79 »

leephillips wrote: post #24

Good. US citizens should be, at least, disappointed that their government is so bad at protecting their privacy, that US law is so far behind the times. To those companies and people who find these EU decisions baffling or inconvenient: tough. If you had had respect for your users this would not be an issue. You would already not be spying on them. To website visitors: if you see a cookie banner, the site is asking p…

My buddy is a manager at a chemical plant, and your comment reminds me of a very astute statement he made recently.

“I don’t generally like unions. I’ve worked at both union and non-union plants. But anytime someone else complains about unions, I remind them that if they have a union at their plant, they earned it.“

Re: Italian watchdog bans use of Google Analytics

#60

Post by nix23 »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #54
leephillips wrote: post #24

Good. US citizens should be, at least, disappointed that their government is so bad at protecting their privacy, that US law is so far behind the times. To those companies and people who find these EU decisions baffling or inconvenient: tough. If you had had respect for your users this would not be an issue. You would already not be spying on them. To website visitors: if you see a cookie banner, the site is asking p…

America is the LTS branch of Democracy.

More like the bitrotting prototype ;)
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