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- Jun 4, 2020
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Warning: This is a braindump about Google Analytics issues and questions that arise from those issues. Also, I'm not a lawyer, so please consult with your lawyers about the related legal matters.
Hey Fastlaners. As some of you know, Google announced they're officially retiring Universal Analytics, aka GA3, next year. [1]
The consensus before that announcement was that the new version, GA4, wasn't ready yet. Many features from GA3 are still missing in GA4; GA4's user interface sucks, steep learning curve, and so on.
The sudden announcement was likely due to controversies Google's facing in the EU. Early this year, France and Austria ruled that the use of Google Analytics is illegal. [2] The main problem is that EU citizens' user data are sent to the US, exposing them to US intelligence agencies. Authorities considered this issue to be a violation of the GDPR.
These controversies resulted in assumptions that GA is now illegal to use (at least in the EU).
So now, businesses that use GA may be compelled to switch analytics providers for two reasons.
So, is Google Analytics dead?
Well, not yet. And probably won't be for a long time.
Here's why I think that's the case.
According to Builtwith, 56% of the top 1 million sites use Google Analytics. [3] That's a significant percentage.
Let's assume each site is owned by one company. That means 560,000 companies, with X employees each, relying on GA data to do business. If GA goes down, millions of people's livelihoods will be impacted.
What's likely to happen, in my opinion, is that Google and other tech companies will slowly comply with the new privacy regulations. In the past few months, Google released privacy-related updates across its products. We can expect more of these for the rest of the year. [4]
But tech giants won't back down immediately, of course.
Shortly after the GA3 'sunsetting' announcement, the US government and European Commission have committed to a new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework. [5] This TADPF is a new agreement concerning data flows between the US and EU nations.
The Court of Justice of the European Union already struck down a similar agreement (Privacy Shield) last 2020 for data privacy issues. [6]
The court invalidated another deal before Privacy Shield (called Safe Harbor) for similar reasons. That was back in 2015. Snowden's leak was a significant factor in that decision. [7]
The gist here is that EU citizens won't feel their data privacy is safe until the US reforms its mass surveillance laws. Until then, new privacy agreements between the US and EU will come and go.
Meanwhile, businesses will need to adapt to the situation and make the best out of it.
We'll see how it goes.
Links:
[1] Universal Analytics will be going away - Analytics Help
[2] French Regulator Rules Google Analytics Illegal
[3] Analytics technologies Web Usage Distribution
[4] EU-focused data and privacy - Analytics Help
[5] FACT SHEET: United States and European Commission Announce Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework | The White House
[6] Top court kills U.S.-EU Privacy Shield deal, sparking chaos in the digital economy
[7] Privacy Shield Will Let US Tech Giants Grab Europeans' Data
Hey Fastlaners. As some of you know, Google announced they're officially retiring Universal Analytics, aka GA3, next year. [1]
The consensus before that announcement was that the new version, GA4, wasn't ready yet. Many features from GA3 are still missing in GA4; GA4's user interface sucks, steep learning curve, and so on.
The sudden announcement was likely due to controversies Google's facing in the EU. Early this year, France and Austria ruled that the use of Google Analytics is illegal. [2] The main problem is that EU citizens' user data are sent to the US, exposing them to US intelligence agencies. Authorities considered this issue to be a violation of the GDPR.
These controversies resulted in assumptions that GA is now illegal to use (at least in the EU).
So now, businesses that use GA may be compelled to switch analytics providers for two reasons.
- If the business website serves EU citizens, they're at risk of being sued for GDPR violations.
- If the business doesn't serve EU people, they may still think of switching because of how Google is 'forcing' GA4 on them.
So, is Google Analytics dead?
Well, not yet. And probably won't be for a long time.
Here's why I think that's the case.
According to Builtwith, 56% of the top 1 million sites use Google Analytics. [3] That's a significant percentage.
Let's assume each site is owned by one company. That means 560,000 companies, with X employees each, relying on GA data to do business. If GA goes down, millions of people's livelihoods will be impacted.
What's likely to happen, in my opinion, is that Google and other tech companies will slowly comply with the new privacy regulations. In the past few months, Google released privacy-related updates across its products. We can expect more of these for the rest of the year. [4]
But tech giants won't back down immediately, of course.
Shortly after the GA3 'sunsetting' announcement, the US government and European Commission have committed to a new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework. [5] This TADPF is a new agreement concerning data flows between the US and EU nations.
The Court of Justice of the European Union already struck down a similar agreement (Privacy Shield) last 2020 for data privacy issues. [6]
The court invalidated another deal before Privacy Shield (called Safe Harbor) for similar reasons. That was back in 2015. Snowden's leak was a significant factor in that decision. [7]
The gist here is that EU citizens won't feel their data privacy is safe until the US reforms its mass surveillance laws. Until then, new privacy agreements between the US and EU will come and go.
Meanwhile, businesses will need to adapt to the situation and make the best out of it.
We'll see how it goes.
Links:
[1] Universal Analytics will be going away - Analytics Help
[2] French Regulator Rules Google Analytics Illegal
[3] Analytics technologies Web Usage Distribution
[4] EU-focused data and privacy - Analytics Help
[5] FACT SHEET: United States and European Commission Announce Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework | The White House
[6] Top court kills U.S.-EU Privacy Shield deal, sparking chaos in the digital economy
[7] Privacy Shield Will Let US Tech Giants Grab Europeans' Data
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