Good for them! Citizens should be able to interact with government without being tracked.<p>I'm not against the idea that government uses analytics, or even outsources analytics operations, as long as there is enforceable regulation preventing that data from being used for other purposes and a reasonable amount of money is being exchanged. When you pay nothing, or next to nothing, it becomes obvious that the underlying business model is, at least partially, based on selling ads or personal information.
This is happening over concerns that the US government could require Google to hand over data, but the EU and the US are reasonable actors who realize that data sharing between the continents is necessary for free trade and are incentivized to come up with a solution. Doubtful this ends up mattering.<p>Case in point, the article acknowledges the new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework (<a href="https://cdp.cooley.com/european-commission-approves-trans-at" rel="nofollow">https://cdp.cooley.com/european-commission-approves-trans-at</a>...) signed in December which will (attempt to) cure the deficiencies under the current agreement. You should expect that the EU and the US will keep pumping these out until one of them sticks.<p>No one is going to ban Google Analytics, and the fact that this article was written by a competitor did not go unnoticed.
For anyone curious about viable alternatives, personally Matomo Analytics is good. You can anonymize IP addresses, go fully cookieless, but also use GeoIP if needed (at least for rough locations, depending on how much of the original address you choose to leave).<p>I've been using it for a few years, it also seems to be fairly easy to run and has most of the features that I'd expect: <a href="https://matomo.org/" rel="nofollow">https://matomo.org/</a><p>For something simpler (less focus on page transitions, device and performance metrics etc.) I've also heard good things about Plausible Analytics which advertise being cookieless and compliant with various legislation as well: <a href="https://plausible.io/" rel="nofollow">https://plausible.io/</a>
For who needs a summary of what is happening in the EU [1]<p>1. Since 2020, it's illegal to send personal data to the US because of the invalidation of the Privacy Shield [2]<p>2. Google said it was okay in the EU to use anonymized IP addresses<p>3. The Austrian Data Protection Authority (DSB) [3] ruled differently and waived most of the arguments raised by Google. The DSB ruled that even anonymized IP addresses are personal data.<p>4. The Data Protection Authority of The Netherlands followed by implying that the use of Google Analytics might be banned in the future [4]<p>5. In February 2022 The Data Protection Authority of France (CNIL) followed [5]<p>6. In June 2022 the Data Protection Authority of Italy (Garante) followed [6]<p>7. September 2022, Denmark – after already banning Google Workspace for municipalities [7] – considers Google Analytics unlawful as well [8]<p>8. Now, February 2023, Finland rules against the use of Google Analytics [9]<p>This is a sound decision, but – as others pointed out – not a new one. It's a confirmation of what has been ruled in July 2020, but now it seems to have more impact when it happens per country.<p>PS: I'm the founder of Simple Analytics [10] - the privacy-first analytics tool that, unlike other privacy tools, does not use any identifiers.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.simpleanalytics.com/blog/will-google-analytics-be-banned-in-the-eu" rel="nofollow">https://www.simpleanalytics.com/blog/will-google-analytics-b...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://iapp.org/news/a/the-schrems-ii-decision-eu-us-data-transfers-in-question/" rel="nofollow">https://iapp.org/news/a/the-schrems-ii-decision-eu-us-data-t...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.data-protection-authority.gv.at/" rel="nofollow">https://www.data-protection-authority.gv.at/</a><p>[4] <a href="https://autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/nl/onderwerpen/internet-telefoon-tv-en-post/cookies#hoe-kan-ik-bij-google-analytics-de-privacy-van-mijn-websitebezoekers-beschermen-4898" rel="nofollow">https://autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/nl/onderwerpen/interne...</a> (in Dutch)<p>[5] <a href="https://www.cnil.fr/en/use-google-analytics-and-data-transfers-united-states-cnil-orders-website-manageroperator-comply" rel="nofollow">https://www.cnil.fr/en/use-google-analytics-and-data-transfe...</a><p>[6] <a href="https://www.gpdp.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9782874#english" rel="nofollow">https://www.gpdp.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/d...</a><p>[7] <a href="https://www.simpleanalytics.com/blog/denmark-bans-google-workspace-for-municipalities" rel="nofollow">https://www.simpleanalytics.com/blog/denmark-bans-google-wor...</a> (includes translated version)<p>[8] <a href="https://www.datatilsynet.dk/english/google-analytics/use-of-google-analytics-for-web-analytics" rel="nofollow">https://www.datatilsynet.dk/english/google-analytics/use-of-...</a><p>[9] <a href="https://www.simpleanalytics.com/blog/finland-is-latest-eu-country-to-crack-down-on-google-analytics" rel="nofollow">https://www.simpleanalytics.com/blog/finland-is-latest-eu-co...</a><p>[10] <a href="https://www.simpleanalytics.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.simpleanalytics.com/</a>