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Today I have seen this interesting post from TechCrunch about Google with the title Achtung! Google Analytics is illegal, say German Government officials. The article summarises what the German news portal "Die Zeit Online" (online version of the famous newspaper "Die Zeit") has written in its article.
Of course did I read the original article on "Die Zeit Online" with the title Datenschützer wollen Einsatz von Google verhindern (in good old English: Privacy advocates want to prohibit Google Analytics).
Well this is an old discussion in good old Germany, which is overcautious regarding the data privacy regulation. I would say (and this a friend of mine has confirmed recently) that it is the country with the hardest regulations concerning data privacy in the web (e.g. for online shops, forums, blogs and whatever else there is on the web). So far this article was not surprising.
What was surprising indeed, was the fact, that the original article from "Die Zeit Online" was not accurate and really bad researched.
I cite from the original article:
Der Stuttgarter Rechtsanwalts Carsten Ulbricht vertritt die Ansicht, dass dadurch sogar Bußgelder drohen. Denn laut Paragraf 16, Absatz 3, Telemediengesetz könnten Bußgelder von bis zu 50.000 Euro verhängt werden, wenn Seitenbetreiber ihre Nutzer nicht um Einwilligung bitten, bevor sie solche Instrumente verwenden.
Der Internetsurfer habe keine Möglichkeit, die Beobachtung durch Google aktiv abzulehnen ("Opt-out"), argumentieren sie. "Ohne das Opt-out aber", sagt Marit Hansen, stellvertretende Leiterin des Unabhängigen Landeszentrums für Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein, "geht es gar nicht". Und schließlich sei die Verarbeitung von Daten in den USA unzulässig.
For the not native German speakers:
An advocate from Stuttgart shares his opinion that a website owner/provider can be sued and is due up to 50'000 Euro, if he/she is not requesting permission before using Google Analytics.
An other official, Marit Hansen, confirms this point of view by telling that this is the case as long as there is no Opt-Out mechanism for the website visitor.
And this is really poor research from the journalist. If he would have an idea of the technology used by Google for this particular service, then he would have known, that there are already possibilities (and I would argue that they are well known as well) for visitors to prevent the logging/tracking with Google Analytics.
The most simple thing is to disable JavaScript, because Google Analytics relies on a simple JavaScript, which has to be included in the website. This is possible with every modern browser.
Second a cookie is set. This can be prevented as well with the browser, but is not so nice for the surfing, because you need to confirm nearly every cookie you need to use or you have the problem of "dysfunctional" websites (because some functions rely on cookies).
Third and strongest protection is a firewall application that denies access from the Google domain (or more particular from the Google Analytics Domain) to your browser/computer. Some products come even with a virus scanner (which every Windows User needs anyway) and deliver you maximum protection of your computer and of your data privacy.
One thing can not be prevented: You need to configure your software/application the right way. And it seems as if the government in Germany does not know this. It prefers to play with "Bundestrojaner". Or is this at the end a strategy to keep all the ports and ways open for the own spy soft- respectively malware?
And one thing remains at the end:
The system is only as strong and safe as the user in front of it uses it. Human failures are the most common causes for data leaks.
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