In the last few months, the European #cnil have alternately condemned the use of #GoogleAlanytics tags for non-compliance with the #rgpd, and this is a decision that we must welcome.
This prohibition measure to be applied by all actors using #googleanalatics is not without practical problems, and it is likely that many websites, commercial or not, are not in compliance with these decisions. But if more and more end-users, concerned about the protection of their data, are looking into the issue, things could change quickly, considering the penalties incurred by companies in violation of the #rgpd.
However, even if the European #CNIL know how to react and highlight uses of tagging that raise questions, it seems that some aspects of this practice have not been taken into account…
Indeed, Google, Facebook but also Tik-Tok and other social networks of the American or Chinese digital giants offer APIs (Application Programming Interface), which allow, for example, to trigger a video on a site or a third party platform (for example when you insert the YouTube API in a page of your site). However, these APIs also have tags which, unlike #googleanalytices, are intended for the sole use of the providers’ platforms (Google, Facebook, etc.). When a tagged video is viewed, personal data such as the computer’s IP address, identifier, type of browser, type of OS, etc. used when viewing this tagged video, for example, can be retrieved, to which the type of video viewed can be attached. This will allow, for example, depending on the themes, to get an idea of your political, dietary, sexual orientation…
It would be interesting from my point of view if the CNIL, the French data protection authority, would look into this part and summon the digital giants to stop appropriating our data shamelessly! I would also be curious to understand what the use of a browser like Chrome, Edge Safari, or even Brave entails in terms of tracking. The latter, despite its claims to be a data protection browser, would use Google tags, to be verified…
These questions seem legitimate to me, and I would really like experts and the CNIL to look into the matter, because the hegemony of the American giants of the net is extremely worrying and poses not only problems of data security and sovereignty but also of power of influence. How can we make sure that our Internet browsing is not influenced or directed? How can we ensure that these digital powers do not shape public opinion?
Can we believe that a player like Google, which has about 65% of the market share in the Western world (Leptidigital), which hosts a large number of sites in its various data centers, cannot have a precise idea of our activity on the net? What traces of activity are captured and for what purpose?
When we imagine the information gathered on millions, even billions of people, we have the right to wonder what use will be made of it, especially knowing the transhumanist inclinations of the leaders of these large American groups, I am not talking about the no less frightening risk of the data gathered on the Chinese side, knowing the totalitarianism displayed by the political regime!
Can we still ignore, as individuals, but also as a population, the anti-democratic risks presented by the quasi-monopolistic hegemony of these entities, which, even if they are private, are nonetheless American and work for the interests and supremacy (at least numerical) of the United States…
Don’t you think that as a citizen, it is high time to take up these issues? This fight for the protection of our data remains a constant battle, but considering what is at stake, it is a fight that is worth fighting!
