After 2 years of negotiation Google Analytics is now lawful in Germany (16th of September).

German Data protectionists argued that the use of Google Analytics is against the European data protection law.

After constructive discussions, Google has implemented a variety of changes to the Analytics tool, which can now be used legally.

Google announced that these changes will be implemented all over Europe.

These changes also need to be expanded to smart phones in the near future.

If website owners do not comply with the guidelines they can still be penalised because of unauthorised data collection.

If you use GA on a German website you should consider the following:

• The use of GA should be mentioned in the privacy policy.
• You should use a special function, which deletes the last octet of the user’s IP address before it will be saved.
• Your privacy policy should enclose the information that the transmission of information can be prevented by using a specific browser add on.

Google has updated their conditions, which now include the agreed regulations. This acts as a contract between Google and the website owner and protects Google against further claims by the users.