There’s no denying that choosing privacy friendly analytics is a step in the right direction when it comes to respecting the privacy of website visitors.
However, simply “respecting” privacy is not enough. To comply with privacy regulations and maintain a sturdy reputation among your audience, it is important to fully protect that privacy by not processing personal data at all.
As you are about to see, privacy-friendly analytics solutions fail to deliver on that front, as they still process personal data, regardless of their claims.
Before discussing privacy-friendly analytics, we will briefly explain how traditional analytics work and the key issues they pose. Then, we will discuss how privacy-friendly analytics tools claim to alleviate those concerns.
Traditional analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, rely on third-party cookies to provide insights about user behavior.
Cookies are small pieces of code that get installed on users’ browsers and track their behavior. In short, cookies allow you to see information about website traffic and where users go when they visit your pages, while also letting you serve targeted campaigns.
While they allow you to optimize your pages and run campaigns based on user preferences, traditional web analytics tools are followed by common privacy concerns.
The information on user behavior is considered personal data, and collecting and processing it without consent violates privacy regulations such as the GDPR, CCPA, and the ePrivacy directive.
However, due to increased privacy awareness worldwide, regulatory compliance and potential hefty fines are not the only problems with infringing individual privacy, but you also risk your company’s reputation. Not only do cookies collect personal data across websites, but sensitive data is often bought and sold on data broker markets. This is one of the main reasons why Google Analytics is free.
Due to privacy regulations, traditional analytics currently require complex cookie-consent screens that impact the user experience and divert the user’s attention away from the content of your pages.
Privacy-friendly analytics try to comply with regulations by limiting the processing of personally identifiable information (PII) in their metrics.
For example, after a user visits your page, using Google Analytics data would record different types of information, including:
On the other hand, as a Google Analytics alternative, most privacy friendly analytics will limit data processing. Depending on the tool you choose, you will see these privacy features:
While this sounds great and is a significant step forward in privacy compared to traditional analytics, privacy-friendly tools don’t ensure full legal compliance.
While privacy-friendly analytics tools work without cookies and claim that no personal data is collected, personal data is still being processed. Here are some of the common problems:
Even if it is irreversible, the anonymization process itself is considered personal data processing. If tools first gain access to personal data and then anonymize it, it is still considered processing. In technical terms, personal data will be accessed by the privacy friendly tool and processed on their servers.
Another commonly used tactic is hashing, which processes IP addresses into fixed strings of characters, thus cloaking the actual IP address. Because IP addresses are PII, GDPR considers this as data processing.
Even though hashing hides the IP address, re-identification is possible, and the original data can be rehashed. Because of this, hashing isn’t considered true anonymization.
Traditional analytics tools profile users based on cookies, which directly track user behavior and PII, which is why they are problematic from a right to privacy standpoint.
Fingerprinting, on the other hand, is a technique used by some privacy-friendly analytics platforms to identify individual users by combining information about their devices, location, operating systems, and web browsers. Because this type of information can be tracked to individual users, even if it doesn’t contain PII, consent is still required.
Plus, it is questionable if collecting that amount of user information, even if not directly PII, can be considered data minimization in terms of GDPR.
We have already said that claiming “no personal data storage” doesn’t translate to no personal data processing whatsoever. But even the storage itself can be problematic.
Some privacy-friendly tools claim limited data collection, retention, and temporary storage. For example, they may state that user sessions are kept only for 24 hours.
However, any type of storage, no matter how long, is considered personal data processing, making it problematic in terms of compliance.
Privacy-friendly tools advertise that you can get rid of cookie consent banners, which is not entirely true.
Yes, user data won’t be available to third parties, as is the case for traditional analytics, but privacy-friendly analytics still processes personal data, and you will need to ask users for permission.
In other words, consent pop-ups will still be necessary, interfering with the UX and website design. Instead of browsing your products, users will face tickboxes and privacy policies.
While privacy-focused analytics are a better solution compared to traditional cookie-based analytics, they can still be a source of non-compliance headaches.
For example, processing personal data without displaying a consent banner can result in fines.
But in the worst-case scenario, data breaches and leaks can result in your users’ personal information ending up in the wrong hands. If that happens after you have claimed that no personal data was processed, your business reputation might face severe consequences. While you will likely be fined, broken trust and a reputational hit can result in even more significant financial losses.
As you can see, privacy-friendly tools are a much better solution than traditional cookie-based tools like Google Analytics, but they still process personal data.
If you want to ensure proper compliance with privacy regulations, you will need to implement true private-by-design analytics solutions for tracking website data. Here’s how privacy-first analytics tools approach user privacy protection:
The key difference between privacy-friendly and privacy-first analytics is that the latter don’t process any personal data. There will be no fingerprinting, no temporary storage, and no hashing—all of those activities would still be considered data processing.
Private-by-design user analytics give you website traffic measurements and other useful information without processing personal data.
Because of this, you will be fully compliant with GDPR, ePrivacy regulative, CCPA, and many other data privacy regulations that follow the same principles.
Since there is no personal data processing, using privacy-first analytics software won’t require consent pop-ups.
This will keep the design of your website clean, ensuring a distraction-free user experience.
True private-by-design solutions will implement encryption and anonymization for all collected data and appropriate organizational and technical data security measures. All data used to deliver metrics will be kept secure and GDPR compliant.
While avoiding fines is important, the fact that you try to be fully compliant by using privacy-first solutions will make a strong statement about your company’s values and ethics principles.
Choosing a privacy-first website analytics tool will not go unnoticed. It will result in improved customer loyalty and brand reputation, which are becoming increasingly important as privacy awareness continues to rise.
mandera for instance is a true private-by-design analytics solution. Here is how we provide you with accurate analytics data without infringing privacy:
mandera doesn’t process personal data. All of the data we work with is impossible to trace back to individual users, which is why it is not considered personal data.
We don’t use methods such as fingerprinting and IP hashing that privacy-friendly analytics tools rely on. mandera doesn’t collect IP addresses, as we drop the IP from every single request, and don’t process any data that can be traced back to individual users.
mandera also respects Do Not Track settings—users who have this feature turned on won’t be taken into account.
mandera is built with privacy in mind, and there is no personal data processing and zero personal data collection. As a result, mandera is fully compliant with privacy laws like GDPR, CCPA, PECR, and ePrivacy directive.
Plus, all of the data is stored in the EU, as the company location and servers are in Germany. The company implements strict organizational and infrastructure standards to ensure GDPR compliance.
mandera is a state-of-the-art analytics platform—you pay us to use our service, and we won’t resell your data to make a profit. As a result, all the data will stay yours and never be accessed by any third party.
mandera chose a private-by-design approach that still allows us to distinguish individual visits without personal data processing.
We analyze referred domains, time zones, anonymized user agents, and only the most basic device information, such as viewport and screen size.
Because this information can’t be traced back to individual users but is still valuable for identifying a unique visit, our sleek and intuitive dashboard can provide accurate traffic metrics.
Because mandera doesn’t process personal data, you don’t have to display consent banners, if you are only using our solution. The user experience will remain clean, and website visitors will focus on your content and offerings.
As a result, your brand reputation will remain intact, as you don’t have to worry about non-compliance fines and data leaks. Users also appreciate privacy-first companies and will recognize your efforts to protect their private data.
While privacy-friendly analytics do make an effort to protect users’ privacy, they still process personal data. Because of this, they still require consent screens, which may cause compliance headaches and brand reputation trouble.
That’s why privacy-first solutions are a much better way to protect personal data. mandera is private-by-design, and it processes no personal data, ensuring compliance.
Start your free trial now and enjoy the benefits of accurate, compliant website traffic metrics that respect user privacy.
To wrap things up, we’ve also put together an FAQ to address some common questions about privacy, analytics, and regulatory requirements. Here, you’ll find more concise answers on key topics like GDPR, privacy-friendly analytics, and the risks of non-compliance.
Privacy-friendly analytics platforms do a decent job when it comes to web traffic information and user behavior on your website. Traditional analytics better track users across websites, which is why they compromise privacy.
But privacy friendly analytics aren’t entirely private. If you want to ensure that no personal data is being processed, read this article to learn more about privacy-first analytics.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a key framework that regulates the protection of the European Union’s personal data. GDPR has quickly become the gold standard for regulatory compliance in personal data protection and privacy.
GDPR has affected data analytics by mandating consent banners and limiting what third-party cookies can do, even with user permission. This has reshaped the analytics industry as more companies and users realize the importance of personal data and the adverse effect cookie-based tracking can have on personal data protection.
As a result, we now have privacy-compliant analytics that don’t compromise privacy rights and still show accurate results.
Besides the GDPR, businesses should be mindful of local privacy laws in their countries. However, some large markets are so influential that the impact of their regulators spreads even across their borders. Here are a few regulations you should take into account:
GDPR and other privacy regulations stipulate hefty fines, reaching 20 million euros or 4% of global revenue. While getting fined for non-compliance is a problem, the reputational hit that will follow can undermine the trust in your brand long-term. That’s why it’s imperative to use privacy-first tools and protect your hard-earned business reputation.
