Recherche avancée

Sur d’autres sites (6098)

• On-premise analytics demand grows as Google Analytics GDPR uncertainties continue

  7 janvier 2020, par Jake Thornton — Privacy

  The Google Analytics GDPR relationship is a complicated one. Website owners in states like Berlin in Germany are now required to ask users for consent to collect their data. This doesn’t make for the friendliest user-experience and often the website visitor will simply click “no.”

  The problem Google Analytics now presents website owners in the EU is with more visitors clicking “no”, the less accurate your data will become.

  Why do you need to ask your visitors for consent ?

  At this stage it’s simply because Google Analytics collects data for its own purposes. An example of this is using your visitor’s personal data for retargeting purposes across their advertising platforms like Google Ads and YouTube. 

  Google’s Privacy & Terms states : “when you visit a website that uses advertising services like AdSense, including analytics tools like Google Analytics, or embeds video content from YouTube, your web browser automatically sends certain information to Google. This includes the URL of the page you’re visiting and your IP address. We may also set cookies on your browser or read cookies that are already there. Apps that use Google advertising services also share information with Google, such as the name of the app and a unique identifier for advertising.”

  

  The rise of hosting web analytics on-premise

  Managing Google Analytics and GDPR can quickly become complicated, so there’s been an increase in website owners switching from cloud-hosted web analytics platforms, like Google Analytics, to more GDPR compliant alternatives, where you can host web analytics software on your own servers. This is called hosting web analytics on-premise.

  Hosting web analytics on your own servers means :

  No third-parties are involved

  The visitor data your website collects is stored on your own internal infrastructure. This means no third-parties are involved and there’s no risk of personal data being used in the way Google Analytics uses it e.g. sending personal data to its advertising platforms. 

  When you sign up with Google Analytics you sign away control of your user’s personal data. With on-premise website analytics, you own your data and are in full control.

  NOTE : Though Google Analytics uses personal data for its own purposes, not all cloud hosted web analytics platforms do this. As an example, Matomo Analytics Cloud hosted solution states that all personal data collected is not used for its own purposes and that Matomo has no rights in accessing or using this personal data. 

  

  You control where in the world your personal data is stored

  Google Analytics servers are based out of USA, Europe and Asia, so where your personal data will end up is uncertain and you don’t have the option to choose which location it goes to when using free Google Analytics.

  Different countries have different laws when it comes to accessing personal data. When you choose to host your web analytics on-premise, you can choose the location of your servers and where the personal data is stored.

  More flexibility

  With self-hosted web analytics platforms like Matomo On-Premise, you can extend the platform to do anything you want without the restrictions that cloud hosted platforms impose.

  You can :

  • Get full access to the source code of open-source solutions, like Matomo
  • Extend the platform however you want for your business
  • Get access to APIs
  • Have no data limitations or restrictions
  • Get RAW data access
  • Have control over security

  >> Read more about on-premise flexibility for web analytics here

  

  So what does the future look like for Google Analytics and GDPR ?

  It’s difficult to assess this right now. How exactly GDPR is enforced is still quite unclear. 

  What is clear however, is now website owners in Berlin using Google Analytics are lawfully required to ask their visitors for consent to collect personal data. It has been reported that Google Analytics has already received 200,000 complaints in Germany alone and it appears this trend is likely to continue across much of the EU.

  When using Google Analytics in the EU you must also ensure your privacy policy is updated so website visitors are aware that data is being collected through Google Analytics for its own purposes.

  Moving to a web analytics on-premise platform

  Matomo Analytics is the #1 open-source web analytics platform in the world and has been rated as an exceptional alternative to Google Analytics. Check the reviews on Capterra.

  Choosing Matomo On-Premise means you can control exactly where your data is stored, you have full flexibility to customise the platform to do what you want and it’s FREE.

  Matomo’s mission is to give control back to website owners and the team has designed the platform so that moving away from Google Analytics is seamless. Matomo offers most of your favourite Google Analytics features, a leaner interface to navigate, and the option to add free and paid premium features that Google Analytics can’t even offer you.

  And now you can import your historical Google Analytics data directly into your Matomo with the Google Analytics Importer plugin.

  DOWNLOAD MATOMO (FREE)

  And if you can’t host web analytics on your own servers ...

  Hosting web analytics on-premise is not an option for all businesses as you do need the internal infrastructure and technical knowledge to host your own platform.

  If you can’t self-host, then Matomo has a Cloud hosted solution you can easily install and operate like Google Analytics, which is hosted on Matomo’s servers in the EU. 

  The GDPR advantages of choosing Matomo Cloud over Google Analytics are :

  • Servers are secure and based in the EU (strict laws forbid outside access)
  • 100% data ownership – we never use data for our own purposes
  • You can export your data anytime and switch to Matomo On-Premise whenever you like
  • User-privacy protection
  • Advanced GDPR Manager and data anonymisation features which GA doesn’t offer

  

  Interested to learn more ?

  If you are wanting to learn more about why users are making the move from Google Analytics to Matomo, check out our Matomo Analytics vs Google Analytics comparison page.

  >> Matomo Analytics vs Google Analytics

• How to keep personally identifiable information safe

  23 janvier 2020, par Joselyn Khor
  The protection of personally identifiable information (PII) is important both for individuals, whose privacy may be compromised, and for businesses that may have their reputation ruined or be liable if PII is wrongly accessed, used, or shared.

  Curious about what PII is ? Here’s your introduction to personally identifiable information.

  Due to hacking, data leaks or data thievery, PII acquired can be combined with other pieces of information to form a more complete picture of you. On an individual level, this puts you at risk of identity theft, credit card theft or other harm caused by the fraudulent use of your personal information.

  On a business level, for companies who breach data privacy laws – like Cambridge Analytica’s harvesting of millions of FB profiles – the action leads to an erosion of trust. It can also impact your financial position as heavy fines can be imposed for the illegal use and processing of personally identifiable information.

  So what can you do to ensure PII compliance ?

  On an individual level :

  1. Don’t give your data away so easily. Although long, it’s worthwhile to read through privacy policies to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.
  2. Don’t just click ‘agree’ when faced with consent screens, as consent screens are majorly flawed. Users mostly always opt in without reading and without being properly informed what they opt in to.
  3. Did you know you’re most likely being tracked from website to website ? For example, Google can identify you across visits and websites. One of the things you can do is to disable third party cookies by default. Businesses can also use privacy friendly analytics which halt such tracking. 
  4. Use strong passwords.
  5. Be wary of public wifi – hackers can easily access your PII or sensitive data. Use a VPN (virtual private network), which lets you create a secure connection to a server of your choosing. This allows you to browse the internet in a safe manner.

  A PII compliance checklist for businesses/organisations :

  1. Identify where all PII exists and is stored – review and make sure this is in a safe environment.
  2. Identify laws that apply to you (GDPR, California privacy law, HIPAA) and follow your legal obligations.
  3. Create operational safeguards – policies and procedures for handling PII at an organisation level ; and building awareness to focus on the protection of PII.
  4. Encrypt databases and repositories where such info is kept.
  5. Create privacy-specific safeguards in the way your organisation collects, maintains, uses, and disseminates data so you protect the confidentiality of the data.
  6. Minimise the use, collection, and retention of PII – only collect and keep PII if it’s necessary for you to perform your legal business function.
  7. Conduct privacy impact assessments (PIA) to find and prevent privacy risks (identify what and why it’s to be collected ; how the information will be secured etc.).
  8. De-identify within the scope of your data collection and analytics tools.
  9. Anonymise data.
  10. Keep your privacy policy updated.
  11. Pseudonymisation.
  12. A more comprehensive guide for businesses can be found here : https://iapp.org/media/pdf/knowledge_center/NIST_Protecting_PII.pdf

  Unsure of what information could be considered PII ? Check out this list of examples.

  Additional resources :

  • https://www.umassmed.edu/it/security/compliance/what-is-pii/
  • http://www.osec.doc.gov/opog/privacy/PII_BII.html

• Data Privacy Day 2020

  27 janvier 2020, par Matthieu Aubry — Privacy
  It’s January 28th which means it’s Data Privacy Day !

  Today is an important day for the Matomo team as we reflect on our mission and our goals for 2020. This year I wanted to send a video message to all Matomo users, community members and customers. 

  Check it out (full transcript below)

  

  A video message from Matomo founder, Matthieu Aubry

  Privacy-friendly alternatives

  • NoMoreGoogle :
    a comprehensive list giving you options for other privacy-friendly alternatives.
  • Switching.Software :
    Ethical alternatives to popular sites and apps.
  • Web browser :
    Firefox
    Brave
    Vivaldi
  • Search engine :
    DuckDuckGo
    Qwant
  • File sharing :
    Nextcloud
  • Email provider :
    ProtonMail
    Mailfence
    Tutanota

  Video transcript

  Hey everyone,

  Matthieu here, Founder of Matomo.

  Today is one of the most significant days of the year for the Matomo team – it’s Data Privacy Day. And so I wanted to quickly reflect on our mission and the significance of this day. 

  In today’s busy online world where data is king, this day is an important reminder of being vigilant in protecting our personal information online.

  Matomo began 12 years ago as an open-source alternative to Google Analytics – the goal was, and still is to give full control of data back to users. 

  In 2020, we are determined to see through this commitment. We will keep building a powerful and ethical web analytics platform that focuses on privacy protection, data ownership, and provides value to all Matomo users and customers.

  And what’s fantastic is to see the rise of other quality software companies offering privacy-friendly alternatives for web browsers, search engines, file sharing, email providers, all with a similar mission. And with these products now widely available, we encourage you to take back control of all your online activities and begin this new decade with a resolution to stay safe online.

  I’ll provide you with some links below the video to check out these privacy-friendly alternatives. If you have a website and want to gain valuable insights on the visitors while owning your data, join us ! 

  Matomo Analytics On-Premise is and always will be free to download and install on your own servers and on your own terms.

  Also feel free to join our active community or spread the word to your friends and network about the importance of data privacy.

  Thank you all and wishing you a great 2020 !

  For more information on how Matomo protects the privacy of your users, visit : https://matomo.org/privacy/

  Do you have privacy concerns ?

  What better day than today to speak up ! What privacy concerns have you experienced ?

  Contact Support