France also labels Google Analytics illegal in Europe

France also labels Google Analytics illegal in Europe

After Austria, France now also indicates that Google Analytics violates European privacy rules. Authorities in Norway already indicated they were thinking along the same lines.

The use of Google Analytics does not comply with GDPR rules. The French data protection authority CNIL reached that conclusion following a complaint against an unnamed website. That complaint was part of a salvo of more than a hundred complaints filed with authorities across Europe by privacy advocacy group Noyb. CNIL notes that European organizations cannot use Google Analytics without violating Article 44 of the GDPR.

The decision comes as no surprise. Last month, the Austrian authority was the first to reach the same conclusion. The European regulatory framework allows member states’ data protection authorities to assess complaints locally, but requires them to coordinate their decision with their international counterparts when their importance transcends national borders. We can therefore assume that outstanding complaints in other countries will elicit the same result.

Transfer of personal data

In the news story surrounding the initial decision , we went into more detail about the problems with Analytics in light of the GDPR. The summary is as follows: although website visitor data is anonymized by Google Analytics, Google does link it to a unique ID. In theory, that ID can still be linked back to a person, leading Europe to label the data as personal data.

The European Court of Justice already established twice (in the Schrems I and Schrems II judgments) that the transfer of personal data to the U.S. cannot be done within the context of the GDPR. The far-reaching institutionalized spying of the US makes it impossible for a US company to guarantee the protection of European data. Attempts to establish a legal framework to make such transfers possible have so far been met with a legal njet each time, with all its consequences.

Impact

Although transfers of personal data have been illegal under the rules for a long time, no concrete action has been taken until now. That seems to be quietly changing. The impact of this decision is unclear, but it seems that Google Analytics in its current form cannot be used legally in Europe. For now, CNIL labels the use for French companies as a risk.

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France also labels Google Analytics illegal in Europe