“The website using the Google Analytics (GA) service, without the safeguards provided by the EU Regulation, violates data protection law because it transfers user data to the United States, a country without an adequate level of protection.” This was stated by the Privacy Guarantor.
The statement-as clarified in a June 23 statement-came as a result of an investigation “initiated on the basis of a number of complaints and in coordination with other European privacy authorities.” Operators of websites using Google Analytics, according to the Garante’s investigation, “collect, through cookies, information about users’ interactions with the aforementioned sites, individual pages visited and services offered.” Among the multiple data collected, the note further states, are IP address of the user’s device and information about the browser, operating system, screen resolution, selected language, as well as date and time of the website visit.
Such information, the DPA said, “was found to be transferred to the United States. In declaring the processing unlawful, it was reiterated that the IP address constitutes personal data and even if it were truncated, it would not become anonymous data, given Google’s ability to enrich it with other data it possesses.”
Going into more detail, the Guarantor highlighted, “the possibility for U.S. government authorities and intelligence agencies to access transferred personal data without due safeguards.” With the occasion, the authority then called“to the attention of all Italian website operators, public and private, the illegality of transfers made to the United States through GA, also in view of the numerous reports and queries that are reaching the Office.”
Finally, a call was made to “all data controllers to Verify the compliance of how cookies and other tracking tools used on its websites are used, with particular attention to Google Analytics and other similar services, with data protection regulations.”
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