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itch.io Community » itch.io » Questions & Support

Google Analytics and GDPR?

A topic by Tjoeker created Feb 14, 2019 Views: 741 Replies: 9
Viewing posts 1 to 5
Tjoeker5 years ago

I was wondering whether using Google Analytics on itch is allowed by GDPR.
I think Itch wouldn't offer it if it's not legal, but I figured I just make sure it isn't illegal in the EU.

I'm also wondering how it is perceived by the average player.
I personally don't care if somebody would gather information about me (like my home country, ...). I just see myself as a dot in a database with thousands of dots. No way somebody is going through them all individually right?
But I don't know how the average player thinks about this..

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DaedalusMachina5 years ago

If you're talking about integrating those analytics in a web-based or downloadable game, then the answer is clear:  Google Analytics is indeed a clear GDPR violation and prohibited by those rules.  If you need such analytics then you'll need to exclude EU players (or obtained informed/explicit consent ahead of time).

Might be nice to just ask for explicit consent instead of all this cloak & dagger stuff.

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Tjoeker5 years ago

How do you ask consent for your itch page? Anyway, if it is a violation of GDPR, I just won't move into that area. :)

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Sarah Jo5 years ago(+1)

Yeah, Google Analytics can be tricky. I found gdpr.eu as a very helpful tool actually. 

This is what they say about analytics when you do not need consent:

  1. Processing is necessary to satisfy a contract to which the data subject is a party.
  2. You need to process the data to comply with a legal obligation.
  3. You need to process the data to save somebody’s life.
  4. Processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or to carry out some official function.
  5. You have a legitimate interest to process someone’s personal data. This is the most flexible lawful basis, though the “fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject” always override your interests, especially if it’s a child’s data.

but if you want to use analytics for marketing, you should get consent. You can read more here: https://gdpr.eu/gdpr-consent-requirements

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Tjoeker5 years ago

So it wouldn't be illegal if I don't share the data anywhere if I understand correctly?

I would only use it to see what the interests of my community could be for other games. And where my community comes from (what is the best time to share a devlog, new release...). Certainly not for personal advertising. I think this falls under n° 5?

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firecat5 years ago(+1)

i'll put it in simple terms:

- if your website is using 3rd party tools like Youtube video (yes that embed counts), comments, fourms, etc.

- You need data for legal reasons

- If data is needed for medical reasons.

- Using data as a tool for target ads.

If your website has anything on this then you need to have users agree to the cookie or use GDPR warning tools you sometimes find in sites. What you would be doing falls under the 5th rule because it will become atarget  ad instead of building a game you never plan. No one asked you to build the targeted ad, you decided besed on data.

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DaedalusMachina5 years ago

How difficult is it to just obtain informed consent?  Put a GDPR privacy notice on your game's page that the game contains the analytics and anyone downloading/using it agrees to being analyzed.  >_>

All this cloak & dagger stuff about 'how can I bypass the law' just seems a bit odd to me.

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Tjoeker5 years ago(+2)

I think you misunderstand. The integrated Google Analytics feature on Itch analyses visits on your game page on Itch.io. This is before you download the game. This happens as soon as you click on a link to the page on Itch. I don't have any power to ask a person permission before they enter my page.

Anyway, the question was not what I should do to make it legal. The question was whether this is what the GDPR is about or not. It turns out it is not, as what I wanted to do is seen as an exception. (n° 5 mentioned earlier in the topic)

I'm not trying to bypass the law in any way. If it's illegal, I'm not doing it. 

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DaedalusMachina5 years ago(+1)

I appreciate the clarification.  Passive anonymized aggregated statistics/analytics like Itch.io uses are likely not subject to GDPR.  They're pretty good on that stuff ;)

I had figured you meant analytics embedded into the actual game/project itself.  So the update is great :)

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Tjoeker5 years ago(+1)

No worries. Thanks! ;)

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