Google, the Italian Privacy Guarantor also stops the use of Analytics
The Privacy Guarantor has established that the website that uses the Google Analytics service, without the guarantees provided by the EU Regulation, violates the data protection legislation because it transfers to the United States, without adequate guarantees.
Unlawful data transfer via Google Analytics. This is established by the Italian Privacy Guarantor.
The Italian authority for the protection of personal data has found that the use of the analysis tool for the results of Google's websites by a local web publisher does not comply with EU data protection rules [Gdpr] due to the transfer of user data to the United States. The latter country "lacks an adequate level of protection" underlines the Guarantor in the press release.
Google Analytics is the web analytics tool provided by Google to website managers that allows them to analyze detailed user statistics in order to optimize the services rendered and to monitor their marketing campaigns.
Following these investigations, the authority chaired by Pasquale Stanzione "adopted the first of a series of measures with which it warned Caffeina Media Srl which manages a website, ordering it to comply with the European Regulation within ninety days".
But the measure does not exclusively concern Caffeine. The authority has in fact extended the reference to all Italian website managers.
Therefore, the measures applied by the Mountain View giant are rejected. The Guarantor highlighted, in particular, that "the measures that integrate the transfer tools adopted by Google do not currently guarantee an adequate level of protection of users' personal data".
The Italian authority therefore aligns itself with the conclusion of many other Privacy Guarantors in the EU who have already found that the use of Google Analytics violates the data protection rules of the block on the issue of data export, highlights TechCrunch .
All the details.
WHAT THE ITALIAN PRIVACY GUARANTOR HAS ESTABLISHED ABOUT GOOGLE ANALYTICS
From the investigation of the Guarantor “it emerged that the managers of the websites that use Google Analytics collect, through cookies, information on the interactions of users with the aforementioned sites, the individual pages visited and the services offered. Among the many data collected, the IP address of the user's device and information relating to the browser, the operating system, the screen resolution, the selected language, as well as the date and time of the visit to the website. This information was found to have been transferred to the United States. In declaring the unlawfulness of the processing, it was reiterated that the IP address constitutes personal data and even if it were truncated it would not become anonymous, given the ability of Google to enrich it with other data in its possession ".
WHAT CAFFEINA MEDIA SRL SHOULD DO
Therefore, Caffeina Media Srl, which manages a website, now has ninety days to comply with the European Regulation according to the diktat of the Privacy Guarantor.
"Upon expiry of the 90-day term assigned to the company to which the provision is addressed, the Guarantor will proceed, also on the basis of specific inspection activities, to verify compliance with the EU Regulation of data transfers carried out by the owners" indicates the note.
SIMILAR SHARES FROM THE AUTHORITIES IN FRANCE AND AUSTRIA
For Google's analytics tool, this is yet another slash by a European regulator.
As TechCrunch recalled, earlier this month, the French Privacy Commissioner (CNIL) released an updated guidance notice on the illegal use of Google Analytics. Since that moment, all PAs in France have discontinued Google Analytics from their sites.
The Austrian Data Protection Authority has also required Austrian websites to remove Google Analytics " in accordance with the GDPR",
THE ISSUE OF DATA TRANSFER BETWEEN EU AND US
The squeeze against Google Analytics comes following a series of complaints filed in August 2020 by the European privacy campaign group noyb, which targeted 101 websites with regional operators it had identified as sending data to the United States via integrations. Google Analytics and / or Facebook Connect always reports TechCrunch .
The complaints follow the historic ruling of the EU Court of Justice in July 2020, which invalidated the data transfer agreement between the EU and the US known as the Privacy Shield.
COMING SOON THE SUBSTITUTE OF THE PRIVACY SHIELD
Since then, both sides of the Atlantic have been negotiating a replacement for the Privacy Shield.
On March 25, Presidents Joe Biden and Ursula Von Der Leyen signed a preliminary agreement between the US and the EU on the transfer and processing of personal data .
However, the legal details of the envisaged data transfer framework have yet to be finalized before it comes into effect. This means that the use of US-based cloud services remains wrapped in legal risk for EU customers.
Therefore, pending the new agreement, the Italian Privacy Guarantor "invites all data controllers to verify the compliance of the methods of use of cookies and other tracking tools used on their websites, with particular attention to Google Analytics and other services similar, with the legislation on the protection of personal data ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/google-anche-il-garante-privacy-italiano-stoppa-luso-di-analytics/ on Thu, 23 Jun 2022 13:55:57 +0000.