D: Google Analytics offers improved data protection

Category: Nachrichten
By: R. Olschewski - 2B Advice GmbH - the privacy benchmark

Companies using Google Analytics can shorten the registered IP addresses of website visitors and, in the process, dispel any data protection concerns.

Google Analytics is a free and widely-used service for analyzing website access. Due to the functionality of this service, visitors' backgrounds and the amount of time they spend browsing can be recorded, and improved efficiency control of so-called AdWords campaigns can be realized.

 

From a data-protection point of view this Google tool has always been a contentious issue as it enables a comprehensive profile of website visitors to be created. With a password-protected Google service, this profile can even be used to identify a particular individual. When using this service, the complete IP address (user-specific data) of the website visitor is transmitted to a third party (Google).

 

From a legal point of view, this was only permissible if the user had knowingly and wilfully consented to this beforehand (§ 12 (1) German Telemedia Act) or if legal authorization had been provided. Neither of these alternatives were exercised on a regular basis, whereby the fact that Google Analytics is a service, which remains anonymous upon accessing a website, only aggravates the situation.

 

Google has now reacted to the objection raised by data protectionists and offers website operators the opportunity to upgrade the Google Analytics Code by means of the "_anonymizeIp()" function. By adding this extra code, the last 8 bits of the IP address requesting information will be deleted prior to further processing, with the result that it is (almost) completely impossible to identify the website visitor.

 

Companies, who have decided not to use the tool for data protection reasons, will now be able to apply Google Analytics. It is, however, recommended that the registered IP address be shortened using the provided patch, and that the privacy policy be adapted accordingly.

 

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