Italy joins Austria, France, and the Netherlands in banning Google analytics, making it the fourth EU country to do so.
These nations contended that it is unlawful to collect user data on behavior, demographics, and acquisition techniques and send it to the US for marketing purposes.
It was only after “a thorough assessment in coordination with other European privacy authorities” that the Italian Data Protection Authority Garante came to this conclusion.
Austria ruled Google analytics illegal in December 2021. France and the Netherlands (Holland) reached the same decision in January and February of 2022, respectively.
Nevertheless, the primary basis for the ban is the transfer of personal information to the United States. It seriously infringes on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation of the European Union, whose main objective is to safeguard the privacy of its residents.
Without additional protection from the European Union, this data is transferred to the US. As a result, the transfer falls short of what is needed to comply with EU data protection laws.
Once more, the law requires Google to provide the US intelligence services with the information it has acquired from EU citizens upon request.
As of July 2022, Google Analytics collects and transfers the following information:
The time and date of the site visit
Users’ browser client information
Device IP address and screen resolution
Users’ device operating system and preferred language selection among other items.
It’s feasible that Google and EU privacy regulators will come to an agreement when Google Analytics 4 (GA4) launches in 2023.
According to Google’s prior announcements, the company will replace Universal analytics with Google analytics 4 the following year.
The following modifications were made by Google in GA4 in order to enhance privacy:
Google analytics 4 will no longer store IP addresses
GA4 will process data from the EU in the servers located within the EU.
It also allows the deactivation of Google Signals to prevent linking with Google accounts.
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