Shouldn't Google etc. go after the draconian US laws making this an issue? I feel most of them try to attack EU or fight the courts there.
is google making a lot of money from analytics?
Use of Google Analytics declared illegal by French data protection authority
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Re: Use of Google Analytics declared illegal by French data protection authority
#212Don't quite understand this at all. Can we cut through the clickbait and see what's wrong here. If my website askes users for their permission to use GA and they click yes then is that still illegal here? I see this as yes it's still illegal. Also is it illegal because there is an anonymised id number created when you send data. If that's the case then it's not just GA that's a problem but any tracking system i.e. Pl…
> If it's not allowed how can I ensure my site is protected as I need those logs to identify and ban hackers. Server logs are allowed as "technically necessary" as long as you show "good will" (I'd call it that way) in keeping the saved data to a minimum. 14 days of log keeping? Fine, that's cool for technical reasons. 14 weeks of log keeping? That's excessive and could get you in trouble.
Ok so what's the actual minimum you've said two weeks here but where is this actually defined ?
Re: Use of Google Analytics declared illegal by French data protection authority
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't need GA for a website either. Many websites probably don't even need any form of analytics at all.
Do you really think we are in a better place now with GPDR and all these annoying cookie banners all over the place?
Do you really think GDPR and cookie banners are related? Most are non-compliant in the first place, and were around for years beforehand.
Yes, I think we're in a vastly better place, where there is a cost to doing bad things.
Re: Use of Google Analytics declared illegal by French data protection authority
#214Is anyone using an alternative that provides some basic analytics and isn't likely to get me in legal hot water in the future? I've already offloaded Google Fonts due to the German ruling. I'm happy to self-host piwik if needed, but could that fall foul of regulators?
> I've already offloaded Google Fonts due to the German ruling. I'm happy to self-host piwik if needed, but could that fall foul of regulators?
Well... if you self-host Piwik or Matomo, you're relatively safe and you can avoid a lot of the bureaucracy bullshit that you'd have with external services.
However, check with a lawyer before setting it up, and definitely get user consent for detailed tracking. There are basically two camps of thought how much is allowed without explicit user consent: the more strict camp (which I belong to) believes that it is illegal to even use technically required data (like IP address, browser agent, date/time of visit, URL/query parameters) for analytics of any kind. The other camp is more relaxed and believes that it is OK to conduct basic analytics on that data (justified as "legitimate interest" of the site operator to provide a good experience to the user), but don't set anything like cookies or localStorage that could allow detailed tracking.
It is not yet clear by a supreme court decision which school of thought is going to win out - personally, I follow the requirement of data minimization per Art. 5 Nr. 1 lit c) EU-GDPR. Data that you do not have cannot be stolen, seized, abused or used as justification for fines, after all.
Re: Use of Google Analytics declared illegal by French data protection authority
#215For the french people on HN: There is a privacy-first alternative called: https://simpleanalytics.com/
Re: Use of Google Analytics declared illegal by French data protection authority
#216There is a privacy-first alternative called: https://simpleanalytics.com/
Re: Use of Google Analytics declared illegal by French data protection authority
#217Google stock is already dropping:
https://www.google.com/finance/quote/ABEA:ETR?sa=X&ved=2ahUK...
Re: Use of Google Analytics declared illegal by French data protection authority
#218Is anyone using an alternative that provides some basic analytics and isn't likely to get me in legal hot water in the future? I've already offloaded Google Fonts due to the German ruling. I'm happy to self-host piwik if needed, but could that fall foul of regulators?
Nobody is going to get in “legal hot water” on account of Google Fonts or Google Analytics unless they’re Google themselves or a top 10 ecommerce company some politician wants to make an example of. There’s millions of sites relying on those things. Is the EU going to drag them all into court? This is like saying you never jay walk because you want to avoid the legal hot water. The water isn’t even lukewarm!
> Is the EU going to drag them all into court?
Not the EU itself... but your competitors, who can not just complain at your respective data protection agency but also file for c&d letters, court injunction orders or penalties.
Re: Use of Google Analytics declared illegal by French data protection authority
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right but the solution is for there to be a treaty between the US and the EU that allows for this. Putting the burden on every foreign company to duplicate their infrastructure is stupid work to solve a human problem.
Or the US could adopt better privacy laws.
Mark one for another American conundrum: having so much distrust for "the man" while at the same time being completely oblivious to the amount of personal data being skimmed off their daily activities. But it's all to guarantee Freedom™ so it must be ok?
Re: Use of Google Analytics declared illegal by French data protection authority
#220Don't quite understand this at all. Can we cut through the clickbait and see what's wrong here. If my website askes users for their permission to use GA and they click yes then is that still illegal here? I see this as yes it's still illegal. Also is it illegal because there is an anonymised id number created when you send data. If that's the case then it's not just GA that's a problem but any tracking system i.e. Pl…
>If my website askes users for their permission to use GA and they click yes then is that still illegal here? I see this as yes it's still illegal. The basis of regulations is that citizens are too stupid to consent to things even if they are fully informed. Whether that is a good or bad approach is up for debate.
The idea of a "right" is shaky if you can sign it away with a click.