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RybbitL Open source Google Analytics replacement

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Re: RybbitL Open source Google Analytics replacement

#3
The documentation states that rybbit does not use cookies and is compliant with the GDPR. The first part is true but, looking at the code (very nice to have it available), the tracking is done by IP address, trading one piece of tracking data for another.

I realize that this is probably the only way it could work but it is not clear to me that tracking by IP address (even over a single session and shredding the data once a day) is any better from a GDPR standpoint.

Re: RybbitL Open source Google Analytics replacement

#4
post #2

Well, obvious question: How does it compare to Plausible and all the other open source analytics.

Plausible is too needlessly expensive as one grows and it essentially punishes you for growing.

And some features aren't available 1:1 with the CE version of Plausible either.

Re: RybbitL Open source Google Analytics replacement

#5

The documentation states that rybbit does not use cookies and is compliant with the GDPR. The first part is true but, looking at the code (very nice to have it available), the tracking is done by IP address, trading one piece of tracking data for another. I realize that this is probably the only way it could work but it is not clear to me that tracking by IP address (even over a single session and shredding the data…

I deal with GDPR daily and the truth is that GDPR enforcement doesn't understand what is acceptable from a GDPR standpoint and that is likely why they are in the process of revamping it. You can also anonymize data and that is no longer considered personal data under GDPR so it is possible to hash an IP address and that be acceptable.

Re: RybbitL Open source Google Analytics replacement

#6

The documentation states that rybbit does not use cookies and is compliant with the GDPR. The first part is true but, looking at the code (very nice to have it available), the tracking is done by IP address, trading one piece of tracking data for another. I realize that this is probably the only way it could work but it is not clear to me that tracking by IP address (even over a single session and shredding the data…

It doesn't have that much in the way of fancy UI, but I found that Matomo allows you to both choose whether to use cookies / IP or maybe to cut off parts of the IP as well: https://matomo.org/faq/general/configure-privacy-settings-in...

People seem to occasionally post cool new solutions, though it doesn't seem like Matomo has gotten that much attention, despite being a pretty strong alternative to Google Analytics (I haven't had that many issues while self-hosting it either).

Re: RybbitL Open source Google Analytics replacement

#7

The documentation states that rybbit does not use cookies and is compliant with the GDPR. The first part is true but, looking at the code (very nice to have it available), the tracking is done by IP address, trading one piece of tracking data for another. I realize that this is probably the only way it could work but it is not clear to me that tracking by IP address (even over a single session and shredding the data…

If the IP address is hashed somehow it would no longer be personally identifying while still being unique enough for analytics purposes, correct?

Does geographic grouping data depend on the IP address? If so I suppose it would need to be extracted first before hashing the IP, and I wonder how much that weakens the anonymization.

Re: RybbitL Open source Google Analytics replacement

#10

The documentation states that rybbit does not use cookies and is compliant with the GDPR. The first part is true but, looking at the code (very nice to have it available), the tracking is done by IP address, trading one piece of tracking data for another. I realize that this is probably the only way it could work but it is not clear to me that tracking by IP address (even over a single session and shredding the data…

I deal with GDPR daily and the truth is that GDPR enforcement doesn't understand what is acceptable from a GDPR standpoint and that is likely why they are in the process of revamping it. You can also anonymize data and that is no longer considered personal data under GDPR so it is possible to hash an IP address and that be acceptable.

> You can also anonymize data and that is no longer considered personal data under GDPR so it is possible to hash an IP address and that be acceptable.

That's not completely true. Recital 26 of GDPR stipulates that

> “information which does not relate to an identified or identifiable natural person or to personal data rendered anonymous in such a manner that the data subject is not or no longer identifiable.”

Hashing does not meet this threshold. If the same IP address is hashed using the same method, the result will always be the same, meaning it can be matched. Hashing is therefore considered pseudonimization and under GDPR, pseudonymized data is still considered personal data.

Moreover, the act of anonymization itself is a form of processing and therefore falls under the scope of GDPR. So even attempting to anonymize personal data doesn't remove GDPR obligations for the anonimyzation itself.

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