The Austrian Data Protection Authority has decided that the use of Google Analytics violates GDPR. In the absence of a new EU-US data deal, other countries may follow.
The case in question is for a website called NetDoktor. Like millions of other sites around the world (including yours probably), they innocently use Google Analytics to track visitors via a cookie which is placed on your device. This information include the usual - page views, how long you were on a page, info about your devices etc - But Google also applies an ID number to your browser, which can be linked with other data they collect.
So although the website owners are just using the basic data to see what people are doing on their website, this data is passed through Google's servers and ends up in the USA. In Europe, the shipping of personal data across the Atlantic remains problematic. And now a small Austrian medical website finds itself in the centre of an almighty tussle between US laws and Europe's powereful privacy regulations.
On 22nd December 2021, The Austrian Regulator (Datenschutzbehörde) said that the use of Google Analytics data breached the EU's GDPR.
So what does this mean for website owners in Europe and the UK?
Well the fact is - unless Google does something for it's European users, businesses will have to stop using their analyics platform if they want to comply with GDPR! But that's not the only affect it has. Please tell me I'm not the only person who is fed up with having to 'accept cookies' on websites constantly. In most cases, this is just because of the Google Analytics tracking code that is embedded on the site.
Wouldn't it be great if we can do away with those annoying popups and show our potential customers our lovely website without any distractions or barriers?
Well you can. There are now several new kids on the block who are offering comprehensive tracking which is totally anonymous, and fully GDPR compliant - meaning there's no need for the annoying popups anymore!
There is a small price to pay for these alternative solutions, as opposed to Google Analytics being 'free', but as we all probably know - nothing in this world is free, and the amount of money Google is making by monetising our data is out of this world!
So if you would like to move away from Google Analytics, and be treated to a simple, fast, comprehensive and cookie-free analytics platform, give us a shout and we can implement it into your site, and remove those annoying popups!
