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• Data Privacy in Business : A Risk Leading to Major Opportunities

  9 août 2022, par Erin — Privacy

  Data privacy in business is a contentious issue. 

  Claims that “big data is the new oil of the digital economy” and strong links between “data-driven personalisation and customer experience” encourage leaders to set up massive data collection programmes.

  However, many of these conversations downplay the magnitude of security, compliance and ethical risks companies face when betting too much on customer data collection. 

  In this post, we discuss the double-edged nature of privacy issues in business — the risk-ridden and the opportunity-driven. ​​

  3 Major Risks of Ignoring Data Privacy in Business

  As the old adage goes : Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right.

  Easy data accessibility and ubiquity of analytics tools make data consumer collection and processing sound like a “given”. But the decision to do so opens your business to a spectrum of risks. 

  1. Compliance and Legal Risks 

  Data collection and customer privacy are protected by a host of international laws including GDPR, CCPA, and regional regulations. Only 15% of countries (mostly developing ones) don’t have dedicated laws for protecting consumer privacy. 

  

  Global legislature includes provisions on : 

  • Collectible data types
  • Allowed uses of obtained data 
  • Consent to data collection and online tracking 
  • Rights to request data removal 

  Personally identifiable information (PII) processing is prohibited or strictly regulated in most jurisdictions. Yet businesses repeatedly circumnavigate existing rules and break them on occasion.

  In Australia, for example, only 2% of brands use logos, icons or messages to transparently call out online tracking, data sharing or other specific uses of data at the sign-up stage. In Europe, around half of small businesses are still not fully GDPR-compliant — and Big Tech companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook can’t get a grip on their data collection practices even when pressed with horrendous fines. 

  Although the media mostly reports on compliance fines for “big names”, smaller businesses are increasingly receiving more scrutiny. 

  As Max Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist and founder of noyb NGO, explained in a Matomo webinar :

  “In Austria, my home country, there are a lot of €5,000 fines going out there as well [to smaller businesses]. Most of the time, they are just not reported. They just happen below the surface. [GDPR fines] are already a reality.”​

  In April 2022, the EU Court of Justice ruled that consumer groups can autonomously sue businesses for breaches of data protection — and nonprofit organisations like noyb enable more people to do so. 

  Finally, new data privacy legislation is underway across the globe. In the US, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and Utah have data protection acts at different stages of approval. South African authorities are working on the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) act and Brazil is working on a local General Data Protection Law (LGPD).

  Re-thinking your stance on user privacy and data protection now can significantly reduce the compliance burden in the future. 

  2. Security Risks 

  Data collection also mandates data protection for businesses. Yet, many organisations focus on the former and forget about the latter. 

  Lenient attitudes to consumer data protection resulted in a major spike in data breaches.

  Check Point research found that cyberattacks increased 50% year-over-year, with each organisation facing 925 cyberattacks per week globally.

  Many of these attacks end up being successful due to poor data security in place. As a result, billions of stolen consumer records become publicly available or get sold on dark web marketplaces.

  What’s even more troublesome is that stolen consumer records are often purchased by marketing firms or companies, specialising in spam campaigns. Buyers can also use stolen emails to distribute malware, stage phishing and other social engineering attacks – and harvest even more data for sale. 

  One business’s negligence creates a snowball effect of negative changes down the line with customers carrying the brunt of it all. 

  In 2020, hackers successfully targeted a Finnish psychotherapy practice. They managed to steal hundreds of patient records — and then demanded a ransom both from the firm and its patients for not exposing information about their mental health issues. Many patients refused to pay hackers and some 300 records ended up being posted online as Associated Press reported.

  Not only did the practice have to deal with the cyber-breach aftermath, but it also faced vocal regulatory and patient criticisms for failing to properly protect such sensitive information.

  Security negligence can carry both direct (heavy data breach fines) and indirect losses in the form of reputational damages. An overwhelming 90% of consumers say they wouldn’t buy from a business if it doesn’t adequately protect their data. This brings us to the last point. 

  3. Reputational Risks 

  Trust is the new currency. Data negligence and consumer privacy violations are the two fastest ways to lose it. 

  Globally, consumers are concerned about how businesses collect, use, and protect their data. 

  

  • According to Forrester, 47% of UK adults actively limit the amount of data they share with websites and apps. 49% of Italians express willingness to ask companies to delete their personal data. 36% of Germans use privacy and security tools to minimise online tracking of their activities. 
  • A GDMA survey also notes that globally, 82% of consumers want more control over their personal information, shared with companies. 77% also expect brands to be transparent about how their data is collected and used. 

  When businesses fail to hold their end of the bargain — collect just the right amount of data and use it with integrity — consumers are fast to cut ties. 

  Once the information about privacy violations becomes public, companies lose : 

  • Brand equity 
  • Market share 
  • Competitive positioning 

  An AON report estimates that post-data breach companies can lose as much as 25% of their initial value. In some cases, the losses can be even higher. 

  In 2015, British telecom TalkTalk suffered from a major data breach. Over 150,000 customer records were stolen by hackers. To contain the issue, TalkTalk had to throw between $60-$70 million into containment efforts. Still, they lost over 100,000 customers in a matter of months and one-third of their company value, equivalent to $1.4 billion, by the end of the year. 

  Fresher data from Infosys gives the following maximum cost estimates of brand damage, companies could experience after a data breach (accidental or malicious).

  

  3 Major Advantages of Privacy in Business 

  Despite all the industry mishaps, a reassuring 77% of CEOs now recognise that their companies must fundamentally change their approaches to customer engagement, in particular when it comes to ensuring data privacy. 

  Many organisations take proactive steps to cultivate a privacy-centred culture and implement transparent data collection policies. 

  Here’s why gaining the “privacy advantage” pays off.

  1. Market Competitiveness 

  There’s a reason why privacy-focused companies are booming. 

  Consumers’ mounting concerns and frustrations over the lack of online privacy, prompt many to look for alternative privacy-centred products and services. 

  The following B2C and B2B products are moving from the industry margins to the mainstream : 

  • Private search engines (Duckduckgo)
  • Password managers (1password, Dashlane)
  • Online identity networks (id.me)
  • Web analytics solutions (Matomo) 
  • And secure messaging apps (Signal) among others 

  Across the board, consumers express greater trust towards companies, protective of their privacy : 

  

  And as we well know : trust translates to higher engagement, loyalty, and – ultimately revenue. 

  By embedding privacy into the core of your product, you give users more reasons to select, stay and support your business. 

  2. Higher Operational Efficiency

  Customer data protection isn’t just a policy – it’s a culture of collecting “just enough” data, protecting it and using it responsibly. 

  Sadly, that’s the area where most organisations trail behind. At present, some 90% of businesses admit to having amassed massive data silos. 

  Siloed data is expensive to maintain and operationalise. Moreover, when left unattended, it can evolve into a pressing compliance issue. 

  A recently leaked document from Facebook says the company has no idea where all of its first-party, third-party and sensitive categories data goes or how it is processed. Because of this, Facebook struggles to achieve GDPR compliance and remains under regulatory pressure. 

  Similarly, Google Analytics is riddled with privacy issues. Other company products were found to be collecting and operationalising consumer data without users’ knowledge or consent. Again, this creates valid grounds for regulatory investigations. 

  Smaller companies have a better chance of making things right at the onset. 

  By curbing customer data collection, you can : 

  • Reduce data hosting and Cloud computation costs (aka trim your Cloud bill) 
  • Improve data security practices (since you would have fewer assets to protect) 
  • Make your staff more productive by consolidating essential data and making it easy and safe to access

  Privacy-mindful companies also have an easier time when it comes to compliance and can meet new data regulations faster. 

  3. Better Marketing Campaigns 

  The biggest counter-argument to reducing customer data collection is marketing. 

  How can we effectively sell our products if we know nothing about our customers ? – your team might be asking. 

  This might sound counterintuitive, but minimising data collection and usage can lead to better marketing outcomes. 

  Limiting the types of data that can be used encourages your people to become more creative and productive by focusing on fewer metrics that are more important.

  Think of it this way : Every other business uses the same targeting parameters on Facebook or Google for running paid ad campaigns on Facebook. As a result, we see ads everywhere — and people grow unresponsive to them or choose to limit exposure by using ad blocking software, private browsers and VPNs. Your ad budgets get wasted on chasing mirage metrics instead of actual prospects. 

  Case in point : In 2017 Marc Pritchard of Procter & Gamble decided to first cut the company’s digital advertising budget by 6% (or $200 million). Unilever made an even bolder move and reduced its ad budget by 30% in 2018. 

  Guess what happened ?

  P&G saw a 7.5% increase in organic sales and Unilever had a 3.8% gain as HBR reports. So how come both companies became more successful by spending less on advertising ? 

  They found that overexposure to online ads led to diminishing returns and annoyances among loyal customers. By minimising ad exposure and adopting alternative marketing strategies, the two companies managed to market better to new and existing customers. 

  The takeaway : There are more ways to engage consumers aside from pestering them with repetitive retargeting messages or creepy personalisation. 

  You can collect first-party data with consent to incrementally improve your product — and educate them on the benefits of your solution in transparent terms.

  Final Thoughts 

  The definitive advantage of privacy is consumers’ trust. 

  You can’t buy it, you can’t fake it, you can only cultivate it by aligning your external appearances with internal practices. 

  Because when you fail to address privacy internally, your mishaps will quickly become apparent either as social media call-outs or worse — as a security incident, a data breach or a legal investigation. 

  By choosing to treat consumer data with respect, you build an extra layer of protection around your business, plus draw in some banging benefits too. 

  Get one step closer to becoming a privacy-centred company by choosing Matomo as your web analytics solution. We offer robust privacy controls for ensuring ethical, compliant, privacy-friendly and secure website tracking. 

• Attribution Tracking (What It Is and How It Works)

  23 février 2024, par Erin

  Facebook, TikTok, Google, email, display ads — which one is best to grow your business ? There’s one proven way to figure it out : attribution tracking.

  Marketing attribution allows you to see which channels are producing the best results for your marketing campaigns.

  In this guide, we’ll show you what attribution tracking is, why it’s important and how you can leverage it to accelerate your marketing success.

  What is attribution tracking ?

  By 2026, the global digital marketing industry is projected to reach $786.2 billion.

  With nearly three-quarters of a trillion U.S. dollars being poured into digital marketing every year, there’s no doubt it dominates traditional marketing.

  The question is, though, how do you know which digital channels to use ?

  By measuring your marketing efforts with attribution tracking.

  

  So, what is attribution tracking ?

  Attribution tracking is where you use software to keep track of different channels and campaign efforts to determine which channel you should attribute conversion to.

  In other words, you can (and should) use attribution tracking to analyse which channels are pushing the needle and which ones aren’t.

  By tracking your marketing efforts, you’ll be able to accurately measure the scale of impact each of your channels, campaigns and touchpoints have on a customer’s purchasing decision.

  If you don’t track your attribution, you’ll end up blindly pouring time, money, and effort into activities that may or may not be helpful.

  Attribution tracking simply gives you insight into what you’re doing right as a marketer — and what you’re doing wrong.

  By understanding which efforts and channels are driving conversions and revenue, you’ll be able to properly allocate resources toward winning channels to double down on growth.

  Matomo lets you track attribution across various channels. Whether you’re looking to track your conversions through organic, referral websites, campaigns, direct traffic, or social media, you can see all your conversions in one place.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

  Start for free

  No credit card required

  Why attribution tracking is important

  Attribution tracking is crucial to succeed with your marketing since it shows you your most valuable channels.

  It takes the guesswork out of your efforts.

  You don’t need to scratch your head wondering what made your campaigns a success (or a failure).

  While most tools show you last click attribution by default, using attribution tracking, or marketing attribution, you can track revenue and conversions for each touchpoint.

  For example, a Facebook ad might have no led to a conversion immediately. But, maybe the visitor returned to your website two weeks later through your email campaign. Attribution tracking will give credit over longer periods of time to see the bigger picture of how your marketing channels are impacting your overall performance.

  Here are five reasons you need to be using attribution tracking in your business today :

  

  1. Measure channel performance

  The most obvious way attribution tracking helps is to show you how well each channel performs.

  When you’re using a variety of marketing channels to reach your audience, you have to know what’s actually doing well (and what’s not).

  This means having clarity on the performance of your :

  • Emails
  • Google Ads
  • Facebook Ads
  • Social media marketing
  • Search engine optimisation (SEO)
  • And more

  Attribution tracking allows you to measure each channel’s ROI and identify how much each channel impacted your campaigns.

  It gives you a more accurate picture of the performance of each channel and each campaign.

  With it, you can easily break down your channels by how much they drove sales, conversions, signups, or other actions.

  With this information, you can then understand where to further allocate your resources to fuel growth.

  2. See campaign performance over longer periods of time

  When you start tracking your channel performance with attribution tracking, you’ll gain new insights into how well your channels and campaigns are performing.

  The best part — you don’t just get to see recent performance.

  You get to track your campaign results over weeks or months.

  For example, if someone found you through Google by searching a question that your blog had an answer to, but they didn’t convert, your traditional tracking strategy would discount SEO.

  But, if that same person clicked a TikTok ad you placed three weeks later, came back, and converted — SEO would receive some attribution on the conversion.

  Using an attribution tracking tool like Matomo can help paint a holistic view of how your marketing is really doing from channel to channel over the long run.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

  Start for free

  No credit card required

  3. Increase revenue

  Attribution tracking has one incredible benefit for marketers : optimised marketing spend.

  When you begin looking at how well your campaigns and your channels are performing, you’ll start to see what’s working.

  Attribution tracking gives you clarity into the performance of campaigns since it’s not just looking at the first time someone clicks through to your site. It’s looking at every touchpoint a customer made along the way to a conversion.

  By understanding what channels are most effective, you can pour more resources like time, money and labour into those effective channels.

  By doubling down on the winning channels, you’ll be able to grow like never before.

  Rather than trying to “diversify” your marketing efforts, lean into what’s working.

  This is one of the key strategies of an effective marketer to maximise your campaign returns and experience long-term success in terms of revenue.

  4. Improve profit margins

  The final benefit to attribution tracking is simple : you’ll earn more profit.

  Think about it this way : let’s say you’re putting 50% of your marketing spend into Facebook ads and 50% of your spend into email marketing.

  You do this for one year, allocating $500,000 to Facebook and $500,000 to email.

  Then, you start tracking attribution.

  You find that your Facebook ads are generating $900,000 in revenue. 

  That’s a 1,800% return on your investment.

  Not bad, right ?

  Well, after tracking your attribution, you see what your email revenue is.

  In the past year, you generated $1.7 million in email revenue.

  That’s a 3,400% return on your investment (close to the average return of email marketing across all industries).

  In this scenario, you can see that you’re getting nearly twice as much of a return on your marketing spend with email.

  So, the following year, you decide to go for a 75/25 split.

  Instead of putting $500,000 into both email and Facebook ads and email, you put $750,000 into email and $250,000 into Facebook ads.

  You’re still diversifying, but you’re doubling down on what’s working best.

  The result is that you’ll be able to get more revenue by investing the same amount of money, leaving you with higher profit margins.

  Different types of marketing attribution tracking

  There are several types of attribution tracking models in marketing.

  Depending on your goals, your business and your preferred method, there are a variety of types of attribution tracking you can use.

  Here are the six main types of attribution tracking :

  

  1. Last interaction

  Last interaction attribution model is also called “last touch.”

  It’s one of the most common types of attribution. The way it works is to give 100% of the credit to the final channel a customer interacted with before they converted into a customer.

  This could be through a paid ad, direct traffic, or organic search.

  One potential drawback of last interaction is that it doesn’t factor in other channels that may have assisted in the conversion. However, this model can work really well depending on the business.

  2. First interaction

  This is the opposite of the previous model.

  First interaction, or “first touch,” is all about the first interaction a customer has with your brand.

  It gives 100% of the credit to the channel (i.e. a link clicked from a social media post). And it doesn’t report or attribute anything else to another channel that someone may have interacted with in your marketing mix.

  For example, it won’t attribute the conversion or revenue if the visitor then clicked on an Instagram ad and converted. All credit would be given to the first touch which in this case would be the social media post. 

  The first interaction is a good model to use at the top of your funnel to help establish which channels are bringing leads in from outside your audience.

  3. Last non-direct

  Another model is called the last non-direct attribution model. 

  This model seeks to exclude direct traffic and assigns 100% credit for a conversion to the final channel a customer interacted with before becoming a customer, excluding clicks from direct traffic.

  For instance, if someone first comes to your website from an emai campaignl, and then, a week later, directly visits and buys a product, the email campaign gets all the credit for the sale.

  This attribution model tells a bit more about the whole sales process, shedding some more light on what other channels may have influenced the purchase decision.

  4. Linear

  Another common attribution model is linear.

  This model distributes completely equal credit across every single touchpoint (that’s tracked). 

  Imagine someone comes to your website in different ways : first, they find it through a Google search, then they click a link in an email from your campaign the next day, followed by visiting from a Facebook post a few days later, and finally, a week later, they come from a TikTok ad. 

  Here’s how the attribution is divided among these sources :

  • 25% Organic
  • 25% Email
  • 25% Facebook
  • 25% TikTok ad

  This attirubtion model provides a balanced perspective on the contribution of various sources to a user’s journey on your website.

  5. Position-based

  Position-based attribution is when you give 40% credit to both the first and last touchpoints and 20% credit is spread between the touchpoints in between.

  This model is preferred if you want to identify the initial touchpoint that kickstarted a conversion journey and the final touchpoint that sealed the deal.

  The downside is that you don’t gain much insight into the middle of the customer journey, which can make it hard to make effective decisions.

  For example, someone may have been interacting with your email newsletter for seven weeks, which allowed them to be nurtured and build a relationship with you.

  But that relationship and trust-building effort will be overlooked by the blog post that brought them in and the social media ad that eventually converted them.

  6. Time decay

  The final attribution model is called time decay attribution.

  This is all about giving credit based on the timing of the interactions someone had with your brand.

  For example, the touchpoints that just preceded the sale get the highest score, while the first touchpoints get the lowest score.

  For example, let’s use that scenario from above with the linear model :

  • 25% SEO
  • 25% Email
  • 25% Facebook ad
  • 25% Organic TikTok

  But, instead of splitting credit by 25% to each channel, you weigh the ones closer to the sale with more credit.

  Instead, time decay may look at these same channels like this :

  • 5% SEO (6 weeks ago)
  • 20% Email (3 weeks ago)
  • 30% Facebook ad (1 week ago)
  • 45% Organic TikTok (2 days ago)

  One downside is that it underestimates brand awareness campaigns. And, if you have longer sales cycles, it also isn’t the most accurate, as mid-stage nurturing and relationship building are underlooked. 

  Leverage Matomo : A marketing attribution tool

  Attribution tracking is a crucial part of leading an effective marketing strategy.

  But it’s impossible to do this without the right tools.

  A marketing attribution tool can give you insights into your best-performing channels automatically. 

  

  One of the best marketing attribution tools available is Matomo, a web analytics tool that helps you understand what’s going on with your website and different channels in one easy-to-use dashboard.

  With Matomo, you get marketing attribution as a plug-in or within Matomo On-Premise or for free in Matomo Cloud.

  The best part is it’s all done with crystal-clear data. Matomo gives you 100% accurate data since it doesn’t use data sampling on any plans like Google Analytics.

  To start tracking attribution today, try Matomo’s 21-day free trial. No credit card required.

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• Data Privacy Regulations : Essential Knowledge for Global Business

  6 mars, par Daniel Crough

  If you run a website that collects visitors’ data, you might be violating privacy regulations somewhere in the world. At last count, over 160 countries have privacy laws — and your customers in those countries know about them.

  A recent survey found that 53% of people who answered know about privacy rules in their country and want to follow them. This is up from 46% two years ago. Furthermore, customers increasingly want to buy from businesses they can trust with their data.

  That’s why businesses must take data privacy seriously. In this article, we’ll first examine data privacy rules, why we need them, and how they are enforced worldwide. Finally, we’ll explore strategies to ensure compliance and tools that can help.

  What are data privacy regulations ?

  Let’s first consider data privacy. What is it ? The short answer is individuals’ ability to control their personal information. That’s why we need laws and rules to let people decide how their data is collected, used, and shared. Crucially, the laws empower individuals to withdraw permission to use their data anytime.

  The UNCTAD reports that only 13 countries had data protection laws or rules before the 2000s. Many existed before businesses could offer online services, so they needed updating. Today, 162 national laws protect data privacy, half of which emerged in the last decade.

  Why is this regulation necessary ?

  There are many reasons, but the impetus comes from consumers who want their governments to protect their data from exploitation. They understand that participating in the digital economy means sharing personal information like email addresses and telephone numbers, but they want to minimise the risks of doing so.

  Data privacy regulation is essential for :

  • Protecting personal information from exploitation with transparent rules and guidelines on handling it securely.
  • Implementing adequate security measures to prevent data breaches.
  • Enforcing accountability for how data is collected, stored and processed.
  • Giving consumers control over their data.
  • Controlling the flow of data across international borders in a way that fully complies with the regulations.
  • Penalising companies that violate privacy laws.

  Isn’t it just needless red tape ?

  Data breaches in recent years have been one of the biggest instigators of the increase in data privacy regulations. A list of the top ten data breaches illustrates the point.

  #	Company	Location	Year	# of Records	Data Type
  1	Yahoo	Global	2013	3B	user account information
  2	Aadhaar	India	2018	1.1B	citizens’ ID/biometric data
  2	Alibaba	China	2019	1.1B	users’ personal data
  4	LinkedIn	Global	2021	700M	users’ personal data
  5	Sina Weibo	China	2020	538M	users’ personal data
  6	Facebook	Global	2019	533M	users’ personal data
  7	Marriott Int’l	Global	2018	500M	customers’ personal data
  8	Yahoo	Global	2014	500M	user account information
  9	Adult Friend Finder	Global	2016	412.2M	user account information
  10	MySpace	USA	2013	360M	user account information

  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Between November 2005 and November 2015, the US-based Identity Theft Resource Center counted 5,754 data breaches that exposed 856,548,312 records, mainly in that country.

  It’s no wonder that citizens worldwide want organisations they share their personal data with to protect that data as if it were their own. More specifically, they want their governments to :

  • Protect their consumer rights
  • Prevent identity theft and other consumer fraud
  • Build trust between consumers and businesses
  • Improve cybersecurity measures
  • Promote ethical business practices
  • Uphold international standards

  Organisations using personal data in their operations want to minimise financial and reputational risk. That’s common sense, especially when external attacks cause 68% of data breaches.

  The terminology of data privacy

  With 162 national laws already in place, the legal space surrounding data privacy grows more complex every day. Michalsons has a list of different privacy laws and regulations in force in significant markets around the world.

  Fortunately, there’s plenty of commonality for two reasons : first, all countries want to solve the same problem ; second, those drafting the legislation have adopted much of what other countries have already developed. As a result, the terminology remains almost the same, even when the language changes.

  These are the core concepts at play :

  Term	Definition
  Access and control	Consumers can access, review, edit and delete their data
  Data protection	Organisations must protect data from being stolen or compromised
  Consumer consent	Consumers can grant and withdraw or refuse access to their data
  Deletion	Consumers can request to have their data erased
  Data breach	When the security of data has been compromised
  Data governance	The management of data within an organisation
  Double opt-in	Two-factor authentication to add a layer of confirmation
  GDPR	Governing data privacy in Europe since 2016
  Personally identifiable information (PII)	Data used to identify, locate, or contact an individual
  Pseudonymisation	Replace personal identifiers with artificial identifiers or pseudonyms
  Publicly available information	Data from official sources, without restrictions on access or use
  Rectification	Consumers can request to have errors in their data corrected

  Overview of current data privacy legislation

  Over three-quarters of the world has formulated and rolled out data privacy legislation — or is currently doing so. Here’s a breakdown of the laws and regulations you can expect to find in most significant markets worldwide.

  Europe

  Thoughts of protecting data privacy first occurred in Europe when the German government became concerned about automated data processing in 1970. A few years later, Sweden was the first country to enact a law requiring permits for processing personal data, establishing the first data protection authority.

  General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

  Sweden’s efforts triggered a succession of European laws and regulations that culminated in the European Union (EU) GDPR, enacted in 2016 and enforced from 25 May 2018. It’s a detailed and comprehensive privacy law that safeguards the personal data and privacy of EU citizens.

  The main objectives of GDPR are :

  • Strengthening the privacy rights of individuals by empowering them to control their data.
  • Establishing a uniform data framework for data privacy across the EU.
  • Improving transparency and accountability by mandating businesses to handle personal data responsibly and fully disclose how they use it.
  • Extending the regulation’s reach to organisations external to the EU that collect, store and process the data of EU residents.
  • Requiring organisations to conduct Protection Impact Assessments (PIAs) for “high-risk” projects.

  ePrivacy Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications (PECR)

  The second pillar of the EU’s strategy to regulate the personal data of its citizens is the ePrivacy Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications (EU PECR). Together with the GDPR, it will comprise data protection law in the union. This regulation applies to :

  • Providers of messaging services like WhatsApp, Facebook and Skype
  • Website owners
  • Owners of apps that have electronic communication components
  • Commercial direct marketers
  • Political parties sending promotional messages electronically
  • Telecommunications companies
  • ISPs and WiFi connection providers

  The EU PECR was intended to commence with GDPR on 25 May 2018. That didn’t happen, and as of January 2025, it was in the process of being redrafted.

  EU Data Act

  One class of data isn’t covered by GDPR or PECR : internet product-generated data. The EU Data Act provides the regulatory framework to govern this data, and it applies to manufacturers, suppliers, and users of IoT devices or related services.

  The intention is to facilitate data sharing, use, and reuse and to facilitate organisations’ switching to a different cloud service provider. The EU Data Act entered into force on 11 January 2024 and is applicable from September 2025.

  GDPR UK

  Before Brexit, the EU GDPR was in force in the UK. After Brexit in 2020, the UK opted to retain the regulations as UK GDPR but asserted independence to keep the framework under review. It’s part of a wider package of reform to the data protection environment that includes the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK PECR.

  In the USA

  The primary federal law regarding data privacy in the US is the Privacy Act of 1974, which has been in revision for some time. However, rather than wait for the outcome of that process, many business sectors and states have implemented their own measures.

  Sector-specific data protection laws

  This sectoral approach to data protection relies on a combination of legislation, regulation and self-regulation rather than governmental control. Since the mid-1990s, the country has allowed the private sector to lead on data protection, resulting in ad hoc legislation arising when circumstances require it. Examples include the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988, the Cable Television Protection and Competition Act of 1992 and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

  

  California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

  California was the first state to act when federal privacy law development stalled. In 2018, it enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) to protect and enforce Californians’ rights regarding the privacy of their personal information. It came into force in 2020.

  California Privacy Act (CPRA)

  In November of that same year, California voters approved the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). Billed as the strongest consumer privacy law ever enacted in the US, CPRA works with CCPA and adds the best elements of laws and regulations in other jurisdictions (Europe, Japan, Israel, New Zealand, Canada, etc.) into California’s personal data protection regime.

  Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA)

  In March 2021, Virginia became the next US state to implement privacy legislation. The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA), which is also informed by global legislative developments, tries to strike a balance between consumer privacy protections and business interests. It governs how businesses collect, use, and share consumer data.

  Colorado Privacy Act (CPA)

  Developed around the same time as VCDPA, the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) was informed by that law and GDPR and CCPA. Signed into law in July 2021, the CPA gives Colorado residents more control over their data and establishes guidelines for businesses on handling the data.

  Other states generally

  Soon after, additional states followed suit and, similar to Colorado, examined existing legislation to inform the development of their own data privacy laws and regulations. At the time of writing, the states with data privacy laws at various stages of development were Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.

  By the time you read this article, more states may be doing it, and the efforts of some may have led to laws and regulations coming into force. If you’re already doing business or planning to do business in the US, you should do your own research on the home states of your customers.

  Globally

  Beyond Europe and the US, other countries are also implementing privacy regulations. Some were well ahead of the trend. For example, Chile’s Law on the Protection of Private Life was put on the books in 1999, while Mauritius enacted its first Data Protection Act in 2004 — a second one came along in 2017 to replace it.

  Canada

  The regulatory landscape around data privacy in Canada is as complicated as it is in the US. At a federal government level, there are two laws : The Privacy Act for public sector institutions and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) for the private sector.

  PIPEDA is the one to consider here. Like all other data privacy policies, it provides a framework for organisations handling consumers’ personal data in Canada. Although not quite up to GDPR standard, there are moves afoot to close that gap.

  The Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022 (aka Bill C-27) is proposed legislation introduced by federal agencies in June 2022. It’s intended to align Canada’s privacy framework with global standards, such as GDPR, and address emerging digital economy challenges. It may or may not have been finalised when you read this.

  At the provincial level, three of Canada’s provinces—Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec—have introduced laws and regulations of their own. Their rationale was similar to that of Bill C-27, so they may become redundant if and when that bill passes.

  Japan

  Until recently, Japan’s Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI) was considered by many to be the most comprehensive data protection law in Asia. Initially introduced in 2003, it was significantly amended in 2020 to align with global privacy standards, such as GDPR.

  APPI sets out unambiguous rules for how businesses and organisations collect, use, and protect personal information. It also sets conditions for transferring the personal information of Japanese residents outside of Japan.

  

  China

  The new, at least for now, most comprehensive data privacy law in Asia is China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL). It’s part of the country’s rapidly evolving data governance framework, alongside the Cybersecurity Law and the Data Security Law.

  PIPL came into effect in November 2021 and was informed by GDPR and Japan’s APPI, among others. The data protection regime establishes a framework for protecting personal information and imposes significant compliance obligations on businesses operating in China or targeting consumers in that country.

  Other countries

  Many other nations have already brought in legislation and regulations or are in the process of developing them. As mentioned earlier, there are 162 of them at this point, and they include :

  Argentina	Costa Rica	Paraguay
  Australia	Ecuador	Peru
  Bahrain	Hong Kong	Saudi Arabia
  Bermuda	Israel	Singapore
  Brazil	Mauritius	South Africa
  Chile	Mexico	UAE
  Colombia	New Zealand	Uruguay

  Observant readers might have noticed that only two countries in Africa are on that list. More than half of the 55 countries on the continent have or are working on data privacy legislation.

  It’s a complex landscape

  Building a globalised business model has become very complicated, with so much legislation already in play and more coming. What you must do depends on the countries you plan to operate in or target. And that’s before you consider the agreements groups of countries have entered into to ease the flow of personal data between them.

  In this regard, the EU-US relationship is instructive. When GDPR came into force in 2016, so did the EU-US Privacy Shield. However, about four years later, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidated it. The court ruled that the Privacy Shield didn’t adequately protect personal data transferred from the EU to the US.

  The ruling was based on US laws that allow excessive government surveillance of personal data transferred to the US. The CJEU found that this conflicted with the basic rights of EU citizens under the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.

  A replacement was negotiated in a new mechanism : the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. However, legal challenges are expected, and its long-term viability is uncertain. The APEC Privacy Framework and the OECD Privacy Framework, both involving the US, also exist.

  

  Penalties for non-compliance

  Whichever way you look at it, consumer data privacy laws and regulations make sense. But what’s really interesting is that many of them have real teeth to punish offenders. GDPR is a great example. It was largely an EU concern until January 2022 when the French data protection regulator hit Google and Facebook with serious fines and criminal penalties.

  Google was fined €150M, and Facebook was told to pay €60M for failing to allow French users to reject cookie tracking technology easily. That started a tsunami of ever-larger fines.

  The largest so far was the €1.2B fine levied by the Irish Data Protection Commission on Meta, the owner of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. It was issued for transferring European users’ personal data to the US without adequate data protection mechanisms. This significant penalty demonstrated the serious financial implications of non-compliance.

  These penalties follow a structured approach rather than arbitrary determinations. The GDPR defines an unambiguous framework for fines. They can be up to 4% of a company’s total global turnover in the previous fiscal year. That’s a serious business threat.

  What should you do ?

  For businesses committed to long-term success, accepting and adapting to regulatory requirements is essential. Data privacy regulations and protection impact assessments are here to stay, with many national governments implementing similar frameworks.

  However, there is some good news. As you’ve seen, many of these laws and regulations were informed by GDPR or retrospectively aligned. That’s a good place to start. Choose tools to handle your customer’s data that are natively GDPR-compliant.

  For example, web analytics is all about data, and a lot of that data is personal. And if, like many people, you use Google Analytics 4, you’re already in trouble because it’s not GDPR-compliant by default. And achieving compliance requires significant additional configuration.

  A better option would be to choose a web analytics platform that is compliant with GDPR right off the bat. Something like Matomo would do the trick. Then, complying with any of the tweaks individual countries have made to the basic GDPR framework will be a lot easier—and may even be handled for you.

  Privacy-centric data strategies

  Effective website data analysis is essential for business success. It enables organisations to understand customer needs and improve service delivery.

  But that data doesn’t necessarily need to be tied to their identity — and that’s at the root of many of these regulations.

  It’s not to stop companies from collecting data but to encourage and enforce responsible and ethical handling of that data. Without an official privacy policy or ethical data collection practices, the temptation for some to use and abuse that data for financial gain seems too great to resist.

  

  Cookie usage and compliance

  There was a time when cookies were the only way to collect reliable information about your customers and prospects. But under GDPR, and in many countries that based or aligned their laws with GDPR, businesses have to give users an easy way to opt out of all tracking, particularly tracking cookies.

  So, how do you collect the information you need without cookies ? Easy. You use a web analytics platform that doesn’t depend wholly on cookies. For example, in certain countries and when configured for maximum privacy, Matomo allows for cookieless operation. It can also help you manage the cookie consent requirements of various data privacy regulations.

  Choose the right tools

  Data privacy regulations have become a permanent feature of the global business landscape. As digital commerce continues to expand, these regulatory frameworks will only become more established. Fortunately, there is a practical approach forward.

  As mentioned several times, GDPR is considered by many countries to be a particularly good example of effective data privacy regulation. For that reason, many of them model their own legislation on the EU’s effort, making a few tweaks here and there to satisfy local requirements or anomalies.

  As a result, if you comply with GDPR, the chances are that you’ll also comply with many of the other data privacy regulations discussed here. That also means that you can select tools for your data harvesting and analytics that comply with the GDPR out of the box, so to speak. Tools like Matomo.

  Matomo lets website visitors retain full control over their data.

  Before deciding whether to go with Matomo On-premise or the EU-hosted cloud version, why not start your 21-day free trial ? No credit card required.