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Austria's data protection authority has found that Google Analytics is illegal

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Re: Austria's data protection authority has found that Google Analytics is illegal

#101
post #6
post #2

The article seems to suggest that it's declared illegal in Austria. Does this somehow apply to the whole EU then?

such individual court decisions are usually a precursor to what will be implemented EU-wide

The other way around: the GDPR was the precursor to this lawsuit, this is the implementation of the directive by a local court which found that, indeed, using GA violates the GDPR.

Re: Austria's data protection authority has found that Google Analytics is illegal

#102
post #83
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understood it, data location is not even the problem, but the US CLOUD Act, that allows their authorities to request data from US companies no matter where it is stored. So even if Google Analytics would store data from EU citizens in Europe, they would still violate GDPR, because US authorities can access the data without the users consent.

So they set up an EU subsidiary that's independent enough for CLOUD Act to not apply. Problem solved.

> for CLOUD Act to not apply

If there is oversight from the US (i.e. it is still the owner), this is not possible.

Re: Austria's data protection authority has found that Google Analytics is illegal

#103
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

You are free to share any data with Google that you wish. Google is however not free to take said data from users without explicit consent.

Not correct. You are not free to share PII with Google (or anyone in the USA).

Re: Austria's data protection authority has found that Google Analytics is illegal

#104

I think it's time to make good backups of some google accounts.

Even Google is not too big to fail and cutting off 40% of your income stream isn't a very wise thing to do for any executive that wants to hold on to the pluche.

Re: Austria's data protection authority has found that Google Analytics is illegal

#105

It's time for EU services to shine.

Based on the results of GDPR, it'll probably just result in more annoying sites that users will avoid due to all of the pop up banners. Hopefully I'm wrong, I wish there was strong competition from Europe

An optimistic take would be that this forces European companies to think through their analytics/ad needs again, perhaps resulting in less invasive solutions and thus fewer popups/banners and improved privacy.

At least that is what I'm hoping for, however unrealistic it might be.

Re: Austria's data protection authority has found that Google Analytics is illegal

#106

The CLOUD Act itself is the issue. Don't use MS Office 365 or any other US based service even if their servers are in Europe as they can not guarantee that your data is not accessible by the US. Amazon and Cloudflare are all great service but your data is under US jurisdiction.

So the entire EU is going to be forced to use Open Office or some other equivalent? Non tech people will hate this and it will cripple many businesses that rely on Microsoft Excel. You'd be surprised how much of the world economy is based on emailing Excel sheets back and forth

This is a good thing. It means Europe will be forced to invest in improving open office, pay for development etc.

Re: Austria's data protection authority has found that Google Analytics is illegal

#107
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They haven't shined in 25 years. We will just be forced to use inferior products.

Ahah, of course during a period of time. Look at DuckDuckGo https://duckduckgo.com/traffic they benefited a lot from the changes imposed on their competitors.

DDG uses Bing for most of its searches though, so this is not exactly a good comparison :)

Re: Austria's data protection authority has found that Google Analytics is illegal

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the entire EU is going to be forced to use Open Office or some other equivalent? Non tech people will hate this and it will cripple many businesses that rely on Microsoft Excel. You'd be surprised how much of the world economy is based on emailing Excel sheets back and forth

Why not now force the EU to heavily invest in libreoffice so that it becomes a drop replacement to excel? I'm sure the European union can spare some euros to make it possible and this isn't even a utopian dream that can't be achieved. It just needs a good push

I'd rather have my money spent in allowing a fiscal and investment frame so we don't have to think of this top-down approach to everything everytime.

Re: Austria's data protection authority has found that Google Analytics is illegal

#110
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Privacy law in the EU is harmonized.

> Privacy law in the EU is harmonized In theory. Reality is quite far from that, as anyone on the ground can attest.

As someone 'on the ground' I see things moving in a much more uniform direction than where they were in the past, the differences are not large enough to make a fuss about. The thing to note is that the GDPR is a minimum set, local law is free to exceed the GDPR.
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