Germany hysterically bans the use of Google Analytics

German authorities again go off into hysterics with Google and impose a strict ban on any use of Google Analytics tool by businesses on the grounds it violates people’s privacy. Furthermore, a report in the Wall Street Journal says that Germany terminated any talks on the matter with the Mountain View without even deigning to inform the company about it.

"Google says it wasn't aware that discussions with German officials had ended, and that it was actively working to address their concerns," reports Christopher Lawton.

A Google spokesperson said: "Google Analytics complies with European data protection laws and is used by other European data protection authorities on their own websites."

Google Analytics allegedly collects the information anonymously which means that reports do not contain identities of real visitors. Besides, all website owners using Google Analytics are required to have a privacy policy that fully discloses the use of Google Analytics.

"Google Analytics does not report the actual IP address information to Google Analytics customers," Google says in its privacy policy for Google Analytics. "Additionally, using a method known as IP masking, website owners that use Google Analytics have the option to tell Google Analytics to only use a portion of the IP address, rather than the entire IP address, for geolocation. Whether or not website owners use Google Analytics, they have access to IP addresses for visitors to their sites."

"Personal information is information that personally identifies you, such as your name, email address or billing information, or other data which can be reasonably linked to such information," the policy adds. "The Google Analytics Terms of Service, which all Analytics customers must adhere to, prohibits the tracking or collection of this information using Google Analytics or associating personal information with web analytics information."