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  • Submit bugs and patches

    13 avril 2011

    Unfortunately a software is never perfect.
    If you think you have found a bug, report it using our ticket system. Please to help us to fix it by providing the following information : the browser you are using, including the exact version as precise an explanation as possible of the problem if possible, the steps taken resulting in the problem a link to the site / page in question
    If you think you have solved the bug, fill in a ticket and attach to it a corrective patch.
    You may also (...)

  • Submit enhancements and plugins

    13 avril 2011

    If you have developed a new extension to add one or more useful features to MediaSPIP, let us know and its integration into the core MedisSPIP functionality will be considered.
    You can use the development discussion list to request for help with creating a plugin. As MediaSPIP is based on SPIP - or you can use the SPIP discussion list SPIP-Zone.

  • Les autorisations surchargées par les plugins

    27 avril 2010, par

    Mediaspip core
    autoriser_auteur_modifier() afin que les visiteurs soient capables de modifier leurs informations sur la page d’auteurs

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  • Lawful basis for processing personal data under GDPR with Matomo

    30 avril 2018, par InnoCraft

    Disclaimer : this blog post has been written by digital analysts, not lawyers. The purpose of this article is to explain what is a lawful basis and which one you can use with Matomo in order to be GDPR compliant. This work comes from our interpretation of the following web page from the UK privacy commission : ICO. It cannot be considered as professional legal advice. So as GDPR, this information is subject to change. GDPR may be also known as DSGVO in German, BDAR in Lithuanian, RGPD in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese. This blog post contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

    The golden rule under GDPR is that you need to have a lawful basis in order to process personal data. Note that it is possible to not process personal data with Matomo. When you do not collect any personal data, then you do not need to determine a lawful basis and this article wouldn’t apply to you.

    “If no lawful basis applies to your processing, your processing will be unlawful and in breach of the first principle.“

    Source : ICO, based on article 6 of GDPR.

    As you may process personal data in Matomo, you have to :

    1. define a lawful basis.
    2. document your choice.
    3. inform your visitor about it in a privacy notice.

    Even if you think you don’t process personal data, we recommend reading this post about personal data in Matomo (personal data may be hidden in many ways).

    Note that if you are processing special category data (ethnic origin, politics, religion, trade union membership…) or criminal offence data ; extra responsibilities are applied, and we will not detail them in this blog post.

    1 – Define a lawful basis

    There are 6 different lawful bases all defined within article 6 of the GDPR official text :

    1. Consent : the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes.
    2. Contract : processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract.
    3. Legal obligation : processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.
    4. Vital interests : processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person.
    5. Public task : processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of an official authority vested in the controller.
    6. Legitimate interests : processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party ; except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.

    As you can see, most of them are not applicable to Matomo. As ICO is mentioning it within their documentation :

    “In many cases you are likely to have a choice between using legitimate interests or consent.”

    “Consent” or “Legitimate interests” : which lawful basis is the best when using Matomo ?

    Well, there is no right or wrong answer here.

    In order to make this choice, ICO listed on their website different questions you should keep in mind :

    • Who does the processing benefit ?
    • Would individuals expect this processing to take place ?
    • What is your relationship with the individual ?
    • Are you in a position of power over them ?
    • What is the impact of the processing on the individual ?
    • Are they vulnerable ?
    • Are some of the individuals concerns likely to object ?
    • Are you able to stop the processing at any time on request ?

    From our perspective, “Legitimate interests” should be used in most of the cases as :

    • The processing benefits to the owner of the website and not to a third party company.
    • A user expects to have their data kept by the website itself.
    • Matomo provides many features in order to show how personal data is processed and how users can exercise their rights.
    • As the data is not used for profiling, the impact of processing personal data is very low.

    But once more, it really depends ; if you are processing personal data which may represent a risk to the final user, then getting consent is for us the right lawful basis.

    If you are not sure, at the time of writing ICO is providing a tool in order to help you make this decision :

    Note that once you choose a lawful basis, it is highly recommended not to switch to another unless you have a good reason.

    What are the rights that a data subject can exercise ?

    According to the lawful basis you choose for processing personal data with Matomo, your users will be able to exercise different rights :

    Right to be informed Right of access Right to erasure Right to portability Right to object Right to withdraw consent
    Legitimate interests X X X X
    Consent X X X X X

     

    • Right to be informed : whatever the lawful basis you choose, you need to inform your visitor about it within your privacy notice.
    • Right of access : as described in article 15 of GDPR. Your visitor has the right to access the personal data you are processing about them. You can exercise their right directly within the page “GDPR Tools” in your Matomo.
    • Right to erasure : it means that a visitor will be able to ask you to erase all their data. You can exercise the right to erasure directly within the page “GDPR Tools” in your Matomo.
    • Right to portability : it means that you need to export the data which concern the individual in a machine-readable format and provide them with their personal data. You can exercise their right directly within the page “GDPR Tools” in your Matomo.
    • Right to object : it means that your visitor has the right to say no to the processing of their personal data. In order to exercise this right, you need to implement the opt-out feature on your website.
    • Right to withdraw consent : it means that your visitor can remove their consent at any time. We developed a feature in order to do just that. You can learn more by opening the page “Privacy > Asking for consent” in your Matomo.

    2 – Document your choice

    Once you choose “Legitimate interests” or “Consent” lawful basis, you will have some obligations to fulfill. From our interpretation, “Legitimate interests” means writing more documentation, “Consent” means a more technical approach.

    What should I do if I am processing personal data with Matomo based on “Legitimate interests ?

    ICO is providing a checklist for “Legitimate interests”, below is our interpretation :

    • Check that legitimate interests is the most appropriate lawful basis.

    Our interpretation : document and justify why you choose this lawful basis in particular. This tool from ICO can help you.

    • Understand your responsibility to protect the individual’s interests.

    Our interpretation : you need to take all the measures in order to protect your users privacy and data security. Please refer to our guide in order to secure your Matomo installation.

    • Conduct a legitimate interests assessment (LIA) and keep a record of it to ensure that you can justify your decision. This document is composed of a set of questions on those 3 key concerns : 1) purpose, 2) necessity, 3) balancing.

    1) Purpose :

    • Why do you want to process the data – what are you trying to achieve ?
    • Who benefits from the processing ? In what way ?
    • Are there any wider public benefits to the processing ?
    • How important are those benefits ?
    • What would the impact be if you couldn’t go ahead ?
    • Would your use of the data be unethical or unlawful in any way ?

    2) Necessity :

    • Does this processing actually help to further that interest ?
    • Is it a reasonable way to go about it ?
    • Is there another less intrusive way to achieve the same result ?

    3) Balancing :

    • What is the nature of your relationship with the individual ?
    • Is any of the data particularly sensitive or private ?
    • Would people expect you to use their data in this way ?
    • Are you happy to explain it to them ?
    • Are some people likely to object or find it intrusive ?
    • What is the possible impact on the individual ?
    • How big an impact might it have on them ?
    • Are you processing children’s data ?
    • Are any of the individuals vulnerable in any other way ?
    • Can you adopt any safeguards to minimise the impact ?
    • Can you offer an opt-out ?
    • Identify the relevant legitimate interests.
    • Check that the processing is necessary and there is no less intrusive way to achieve the same result.
    • Perform a balancing test, and be confident that the individual’s interests do not override those legitimate interests.
    • Use individuals’ data in ways they would reasonably expect, unless you have a very good reason.

    Our interpretation : use those data to improve user experience for example.

    • Do not use people’s data in ways they would find intrusive or which could cause them harm, unless you have a very good reason.

    Our interpretation : ask yourself if this data is representing a risk for the individuals.

    • If you process children’s data, take extra care to make sure you protect their interests.
    • Consider safeguards to reduce the impact where possible.

    Our interpretation : Check if your web hosting provider is providing appropriate safeguards.

    • Consider whether you can offer an opt out.

    Our interpretation : Matomo is providing you the opt-out feature.

    • If your LIA identifies a significant privacy impact, consider whether you also need to conduct a DPIA.

    Our interpretation : A DPIA can easily be conducted by using this software from the French privacy commission.

    • Regularly review your LIA and update it when circumstances change.
    • Include information about your legitimate interests in your privacy information.

    As you see, going for “Legitimate interests” requires a lot of written documentation. Let’s see how “Consent” differ.

    What should I do if I am processing personal data with Matomo based on “Consent” ?

    As previously mentioned, using “Consent” rather than “Legitimate interests” is more technical but less intense in terms of documentation. Like for “Legitimate interests”, ICO is providing a checklist for “Consent” which is divided into 3 key categories : 1) asking for consent, 2) recording consent, and 3) managing consent.

    1. Asking for consent :
      1. Check that consent is the most appropriate lawful basis for processing.
      2. Make the request for consent prominent and separate from your terms and conditions.
      3. Ask people to positively opt in. Don’t use pre-ticked boxes or any other type of default consent.
      4. Use clear, plain language that is easy to understand.
      5. Specify why you want the data and what you are going to do with it.
      6. Give individual (‘granular’) options to consent separately to different purposes and types of processing.
      7. Name your organisation and any third party controllers who will be relying on the consent.
      8. Tell individuals they can withdraw their consent.
      9. Ensure that individuals can refuse to consent without detriment.
      10. Avoid making consent a precondition of a service.
      11. If you offer online services directly to children, only seek consent if you have age-verification measures (and parental-consent measures for younger children) in place.
    2. Recording consent :
      1. Keep a record of when and how you got consent from the individual.
      2. Keep a record of exactly what you told them at the time.
    3. Managing consent :
      1. Regularly review consents to check that the relationship, the processing and the purposes have not changed.
      2. Have processes in place to refresh consent at appropriate intervals, including any parental consent.
      3. Consider using privacy dashboards or other preference-management tools as a matter of good practice.
      4. Make it easy for individuals to withdraw their consent at any time, and publicise how to do so.
      5. Act on withdrawals of consent as soon as you can.
      6. Don’t penalise individuals who wish to withdraw consent.

      3 – Inform your visitor about it in a privacy notice

      Privacy notices are an important part within the GDPR process. Read our blog post dedicated to privacy notices to learn more.

      We really hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Please have a look at our Matomo GDPR guide for more information.

    The post Lawful basis for processing personal data under GDPR with Matomo appeared first on Analytics Platform - Matomo.

  • 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.

    #CompanyLocationYear# of RecordsData Type
    1YahooGlobal20133Buser account information
    2AadhaarIndia20181.1Bcitizens’ ID/biometric data
    2AlibabaChina20191.1Busers’ personal data
    4LinkedInGlobal2021700Musers’ personal data
    5Sina WeiboChina2020538Musers’ personal data
    6FacebookGlobal2019533Musers’ personal data
    7Marriott Int’lGlobal2018500Mcustomers’ personal data
    8YahooGlobal2014500Muser account information
    9Adult Friend FinderGlobal2016412.2Muser account information
    10MySpaceUSA2013360Muser 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 :

    TermDefinition
    Access and controlConsumers can access, review, edit and delete their data
    Data protectionOrganisations must protect data from being stolen or compromised
    Consumer consentConsumers can grant and withdraw or refuse access to their data
    DeletionConsumers can request to have their data erased
    Data breachWhen the security of data has been compromised
    Data governanceThe management of data within an organisation
    Double opt-inTwo-factor authentication to add a layer of confirmation
    GDPRGoverning data privacy in Europe since 2016
    Personally identifiable information (PII)Data used to identify, locate, or contact an individual
    PseudonymisationReplace personal identifiers with artificial identifiers or pseudonyms
    Publicly available informationData from official sources, without restrictions on access or use
    RectificationConsumers 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.

    Map showing states with data privacy regulation and states planning it

    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.

    Map showing countries with legislation and draft legislation and those without any at all.

    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 :

    ArgentinaCosta RicaParaguay
    AustraliaEcuadorPeru
    BahrainHong KongSaudi Arabia
    BermudaIsraelSingapore
    BrazilMauritiusSouth Africa
    ChileMexicoUAE
    ColombiaNew ZealandUruguay

    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.

    The EU-US Privacy Shield regulates transfer of personal data between the EU and the US

    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.

  • Six Best Amplitude Alternatives

    10 décembre 2024, par Daniel Crough

    Product analytics is big business. Gone are the days when we could only guess what customers were doing with our products or services. Now, we can track, visualise, and analyse how they interact with them and, with that, constantly improve and optimise. 

    The problem is that many product analytics tools are expensive and complicated — especially for smaller businesses. They’re also packed with functionality more attuned to the needs of massive companies. 

    Amplitude is such a tool. It’s brilliant and it has all the bells and whistles that you’ll probably never need. Fortunately, there are alternatives. In this guide, we’ll explore the best of those alternatives and, along the way, provide the insight you’ll need to select the best analytics tool for your organisation. 

    Amplitude : a brief overview

    To set the stage, it makes sense to understand exactly what Amplitude offers. It’s a real-time data analytics tool for tracking user actions and gaining insight into engagement, retention, and revenue drivers. It helps you analyse that data and find answers to questions about what happened, why it happened, and what to do next.

    However, as good as Amplitude is, it has some significant disadvantages. While it does offer data export functionality, that seems deliberately restricted. It allows data exports for specific events, but it’s not possible to export complete data sets to manipulate or format in another tool. Even pulling it into a CSV file has a 10,000-row limit. There is an API, but not many third-party integration options.

    Getting data in can also be a problem. Amplitude requires manual tags on events that must be tracked for analysis, which can leave holes in the data if every possible subsequent action isn’t tagged. That’s a time-consuming exercise, and it’s made worse because those tags will have to be updated every time the website or app is updated. 

    As good as it is, it can also be overwhelming because it’s stacked with features that can create confusion for novice or inexperienced analysts. It’s also expensive. There is a freemium plan that limits functionality and events. Still, when an organisation wants to upgrade for additional functionality or to analyse more events, the step up to the paid plan is massive.

    Lastly, Amplitude has made some strides towards being a web analytics option, but it lacks some basic functionality that may frustrate people who are trying to see the full picture from web to app.

    Snapshot of Amplitude alternatives

    So, in place of Amplitude, what product analytics tools are available that won’t break the bank and still provide the functionality needed to improve your product ? The good news is that there are literally hundreds of alternatives, and we’ve picked out six of the best.

    1. Matomo – Best privacy-focused web and mobile analytics
    2. Mixpanel – Best for product analytics
    3. Google Analytics – Best free option
    4. Adobe Analytics – Best for predictive analytics
    5. Umami – Best lightweight tool for product analytics
    6. Heap – Best for automatic user data capture

    A more detailed analysis of the Amplitude alternatives

    Now, let’s dive deeper into each of the six Amplitude alternatives. We’ll cover standout features, integrations, pricing, use cases and community critiques. By the end, you’ll know which analytics tool can help optimise website and app performance to grow your business.

    1. Matomo – Best privacy-friendly web and app analytics

    Privacy is a big concern these days, especially for organisations with a presence in the European Union (EU). Unlike other analytics tools, Matomo ensures you comply with privacy laws and regulations, like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

    Matomo helps businesses get the insights they need without compromising user privacy. It’s also one of the few self-hosted tools, ensuring data never has to leave your site.

    Matomo is open-source, which is also rare in this class of tools. That means it’s available for anyone to adapt and customise as they wish. Everything you need to build custom APIs is there.

    Image showing the origin of website traffic.
    The Locations page in Matomo shows the countries, continents, regions, and cities where website traffic originates.

    Its most useful capabilities include visitor logs and session recordings to trace the entire customer journey, spot drop-off points, and fine-tune sales funnels. The platform also comes with heatmaps and A/B testing tools. Heatmaps provide a useful visual representation of your data, while A/B testing allows for more informed, data-driven decisions.

    Despite its range of features, many reviewers laud Matomo’s user interface for its simplicity and user-friendliness. 

    Why Matomo : Matomo is an excellent alternative because it fills in the gaps where Amplitude comes up short, like with cookieless tracking. Also, while Amplitude focuses mainly on behavioural analytics, Matomo offers both behavioural and traditional analytics, which allows more profound insight into your data. Furthermore, Matomo fully complies with the strictest privacy regulations worldwide, including GDPR, LGPD, and HIPAA.

    Standout features include multi-touch attribution, visits log, content engagement, ecommerce, customer segments, event tracking, goal tracking, custom dimensions, custom reports, automated email reports, tag manager, sessions recordings, roll-up reporting that can pull data from multiple websites or mobile apps, Google Analytics importer, Matomo tag manager, comprehensive visitor tracking, heatmaps, and more.

    Integrations with 100+ technologies, including Cloudflare, WordPress, Magento, Google Ads, Drupal, WooCommerce, Vue, SharePoint and Wix.

    Pricing is free for Matomo On-Premise and $23 per month for Matomo Cloud, which comes with a 21-day free trial (no credit card required).

    Strengths

    • Privacy focused
    • Cookieless consent banners
    • 100% accurate, unsampled data
    • Open-source code 
    • Complete data ownership (no sharing with third parties)
    • Self-hosting and cloud-based options
    • Built-in GDPR Manager
    • Custom alerts, white labelling, dashboards and reports

    Community critiques 

    • Premium features are expensive and proprietary
    • Learning curve for non-technical users

    2. Mixpanel – Best for product analytics

    Mixpanel is a dedicated product analytics tool. It tracks and analyses customer interactions with a product across different platforms and helps optimise digital products to improve the user experience. It works with real-time data and can provide answers from customer and revenue data in seconds.

    It also presents data visualisations to show how customers interact with products.

    Screenshot reflecting useful customer trends

    Mixpanel allows you to play around filters and views to reveal and chart some useful customer trends. (Image source)

    Why Mixpanel : One of the strengths of this platform is the ability to test hypotheses. Need to test an ambitious idea ? Mixpanel data can do it with real user analytics. That allows you to make data-driven decisions to find the best path forward.

    Standout features include automatic funnel segment analysis, behavioural segmentation, cohort segmentation, collaboration support, customisable dashboards, data pipelines, filtered data views, SQL queries, warehouse connectors and a wide range of pre-built integrations.

    Integrations available include Appcues, AppsFlyer, AWS, Databox, Figma, Google Cloud, Hotjar, HubSpot, Intercom, Integromat, MailChimp, Microsoft Azure, Segment, Slack, Statsig, VWO, Userpilot, WebEngage, Zapier, ZOH) and dozens of others.

    Pricing starts with a freemium plan valid for up to 20 million events per month. The growth plan is affordable at $25 per month and adds features like no-code data transformations and data pipeline add-ons. The enterprise version runs at a monthly cost of $833 and provides the full suite of features and services and premium support.

    There’s a caveat. Those prices only allow up to 1,000 Monthly Tracked Users (MTUs), calculated based on the number of visitors that perform a qualifying event each month. Beyond that, MTU plans start at $20,000 per year.

    Strengths

    • User behaviour and interaction tracking
    • Unlimited cohort segmentation capabilities
    • Drop-off analysis showing where users get stuck
    • A/B testing capabilities

    Community critiques 

    • Expensive enterprise features
    • Extensive setup and configuration requirements

    3. Google Analytics 4 – Best free web analytics tool

    The first thing to know about Google Analytics 4 is that it’s a web analytics tool. In other words, it tracks sessions, not user behaviours in app environments. It can provide details on how people found your website and how they go there, but it doesn’t offer much detail on how people use your product. 

    There is also an enterprise version, Google Analytics 360, which is not free. We’ve broken down the differences between the two versions elsewhere.

    Image showing audience-related data provided by GA4

    GA4’s audience overview shows visitors, sessions, session lengths, bounce rates, and user engagement data. (Image source)

     

    Why Google Analytics : It’s great for gauging the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, tracking goal completions (purchases, cart additions, etc.) and spotting trends and patterns in user engagement.

    Standout features include built-in automation, customisable conversion goals, data drill-down functionality, detailed web acquisition metrics, media spend ROI calculations and out-of-the-box web analytics reporting.

    Integrations include all major CRM platforms, CallRail, DoubleClick DCM, Facebook, Hootsuite, Marketo, Shopify, VWO, WordPress, Zapier and Zendesk, among many others.

    Pricing is free for the basic version (Google Analytics 4) and scales based on features and data volume. The advanced features (in Google Analytics 360) are pitched at enterprises, and pricing is custom.

    Strengths

    • Free to start
    • Multiple website management
    • Traffic source details
    • Up-to-date traffic data

    Community critiques 

    • Steep learning curve 
    • Data sampling

    4. Adobe Analytics – Best for predictive analytics

    A fully configured Adobe Analytics implementation is the Swiss army knife of analytics tools. It begins with web analytics, adds product analytics, and then wraps it up nicely with predictive analytics.

    Unlike all the Amplitude alternatives here, there’s no free version. Adobe Analytics has a complicated pricing matrix with options like website analytics, marketing analytics, attribution, and predictive analytics. It also has a wide range of customisation options that will appeal to large businesses. But for smaller organisations, it may all be a bit too much.

    Mixpanel allows you to play around filters and views to reveal and chart some useful customer trends. (Image source)

    Screenshot categorising online orders by marketing channel

    Adobe Analytics’ cross-channel attribution ties actions from different channels into a single customer journey. (Image source)

     

    Why Adobe Analytics : For current Adobe customers, this is a logical next step. Either way, Adobe Analytics can combine, evaluate, and analyse data from any part of the customer journey. It analyses that data with predictive intelligence to provide insights to enhance customer experiences.

     

    Standout features include AI-powered prediction analysis, attribution analysis, multi-channel data collection, segmentation and detailed customer journey analytics, product analytics and web analytics.

     

    Integrations are available through the Adobe Experience Cloud Exchange. Adobe Analytics also supports data exchange with brands such as BrightEdge, Branch.io, Google Ads, Hootsuite, Invoca, Salesforce and over 200 other integrations.

     

    Pricing starts at $500 monthly, but prospective customers are encouraged to contact the company for a needs-based quotation.

     

    Strengths

    • Drag-and-drop interface
    • Flexible segmentation 
    • Easy-to-create conversion funnels
    • Threshold-based alerts and notifications

    Community critiques 

    • No free version
    • Lack of technical support
    • Steep learning curve

    5. Umami – Best lightweight tool for web analytics

    The second of our open-source analytics solutions is Umami, a favourite in the software development community. Like Matomo, it’s a powerful and privacy-focused alternative that offers complete data control and respects user privacy. It’s also available as a cloud-based freemium plan or as a self-hosted solution.

     

    Image showing current user traffic and hourly traffic going back 24 hours

    Umami’s dashboard reveals the busiest times of day and which pages are visited when.(Image source)

     

    Why Umami : Unami has a clear and simple user interface (UI) that lets you measure important metrics such as page visits, referrers, and user agents. It also features event tracking, although some reviewers complain that it’s quite limited.

    Standout features can be summed up in five words : privacy, simplicity, lightweight, real-time, and open-source. Unami’s UI is clean, intuitive and modern, and it doesn’t slow down your website. 

    Integrations include plugins for VuePress, Gatsby, Craft CMS, Docusaurus, WordPress and Publii, and a module for Nuxt. Unami’s API communicates with Javascript, PHP Laravel and Python.

    Pricing is free for up to 100k monthly events and three websites, but with limited support and data retention restrictions. The Pro plan costs $20 a month and gives you unlimited websites and team members, a million events (plus $0.00002 for each event over that), five years of data and email support. Their Enterprise plan is priced custom.

    Strengths

    • Freemium plan
    • Open-source
    • Lightweight 

    Community critiques 

    • Limited support options
    • Data retention restrictions
    • No funnel functionality

    6. Heap – Best for automatic data capture

    Product analytics with a twist is a good description of Heap. It features event auto-capture to track user interactions across all touchpoints in the user journey. This lets you fully understand how and why customers engage with your product and website. 

    Using a single Javascript snippet, Heap automatically collects data on everything users do, including how they got to your website. It also helps identify how different cohorts engage with your product, providing the critical insights teams need to boost conversion rates.

    Image showing funnel and path analysis data and insights

    Heap’s journeys feature combines funnel and path analysis. (Image source)

     

    Why Heap : The auto-capture functionality solves a major shortcoming of many product analytics tools — manual tracking. Instead of having to set up manual tags on events, Heap automatically captures all data on user activity from the start. 

    Standout features include event auto-capture, session replay, heatmaps, segments (or cohorts) and journeys, the last of which combines the functions of funnel and path analysis tools into a single feature.

    Integrations include AWS, Google, Microsoft Azure, major CRM platforms, Snowflake and many other data manipulation platforms.

    Pricing is quote-based across all payment tiers. There is also a free plan and a 14-day free trial.

    Strengths

    • Session replay
    • Heatmaps 
    • User segmentation
    • Simple setup 
    • Event auto-capture 

    Community critiques 

    • No A/B testing functionality
    • No GDPR compliance support

    Choosing the best solution for your team

    When selecting a tool, it’s crucial to understand how product analytics and web analytics solutions differ. 

    Product analytics tools track users or accounts and record the features they use, the funnels they move through, and the cohorts they’re part of. Web analytics tools focus more on sessions than users because they’re interested in data that can help improve website usage. 

    Some tools combine product and web analytics to do both of these jobs.

    Area of focus

    Product analytics tools track user behaviour within SaaS- or app-based products. They’re helpful for analysing features, user journeys, engagement metrics, product development and iteration. 

    Web analytics tools analyse web traffic, user demographics, and traffic sources. They’re most often used for marketing and SEO insights.

    Level of detail

    Product analytics tools provide in-depth tracking and analysis of user interactions, feature usage, and cohort analysis.

    Web analytics tools provide broader data on page views, bounce rates, and conversion tracking to analyse overall site performance.

    Whatever tools you try, your first step should be to search for reviews online to see what people who’ve used them think about them. There are some great review sites you can try. See what people are saying on Capterra, G2, Gartner Peer Insights, or TrustRadius

    Use Matomo to power your web and app analytics

    Web and product analytics is a competitive field, and there are many other tools worth considering. This list is a small cross-section of what’s available.

    That said, if you have concerns about privacy and costs, consider choosing Matomo. Start your 21-day free trial today.