It is always good to know the different privacy laws used online. Among them is CCPA, which stands for California Consumer Privacy Act. In this post, we are discussing Google Analytics and CCPA to help you understand what they are and how they work.
What inspired CCPA Google Analytics into existence is the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). However, several differences separate these two. The California privacy law took effect in 2020 but was signed in 2018. Comparing the CCPA and GDPR, you will find that CCPA has a narrow scope. It is also an opt-out law and not an opt-in law.
Google Analytics is an excellent analytical tool that many website owners and companies use to track user engagement. If any user uses Google Analytics, you must make it CCPA compliant. Continue reading to learn how to make your Google Analytics comply with CCPA.
How Does CCPA Google Analytics Affect Web Analytics?
CCPA impacts web analytics in various ways that you need to know about. Google Analytics, being one of the most effective analytics tools, is compliant with CCPA. CCPA may affect companies that operate in California. It doesn’t matter where the company is in California. You may be based anywhere, but this law may affect you if your company serves Californians. Companies that are bound by this law include:
- If a company earns an annual gross revenue of at least $25 million
- If a company collects more than 50% of its revenue by selling the personal data of California residents
- If a company collects and processes over 50,000 Californians’ data
Breaking the privacy law may attract a fine of up to $7,500 per violation.
What Makes CCPA an Opt-Out Law?
An opt-in law means your customers or visitors must permit you before collecting their personal information and data. GDPR is an opt-in law. On the other hand, CCPA is an opt-out law. You don’t need to request your visitor’s permission to access their data or personal information. You can only opt them out if they want to opt out.
CCPA Privacy and Data Rights
With CCPA Google Analytics, you will get robust data access rights, control over personal data, and privacy rights. Similarities between GDPR and CCPA when it comes to web visitors and customers include:
- Consumers should know about data collection and the reason behind it
- The right to access information or data that companies gather about them
- Web visitors should also access information about third-party companies that have access to their data
- Customers should also have the right to delete their data
- Visitors should also opt out anytime they feel like
- They also have a right to exercise their right to privacy and not suffer discrimination
- When companies violate their privacy policies, they have a right to take legal action against them.
Google Analytics Compliance with CCPA
Google Analytics is a powerful analytical tool meant to collect personal data. It can contain and share personal information, such as an IP address, with other Google services. This is usually done for advertising purposes. The tool also tracks visitors when they browse the net on multiple devices. This is done using persistent identifiers and cookies. However, certain features of Google Analytics may not comply with CCPA. Here are some of them.
Google Analytics integrates with various advertising and data-sharing services, which connects to a broader Google ecosystem. Google Analytics uses cookies to track visitors. It also uses cookies to store cookies. GA also uses cookies to identify unique visitors and users during browsing sessions. Google Analytics uses unique user IDs on different devices to track users between browsing sessions. You can connect multiple sessions, devices, and engagement data to similar users with user IDs.
As a Google Analytics user, you can hack and manipulate this analytics tool to make it comply with CCPA. You can do that by restricting data gathering and processing. Google Analytics usually does this by default. Google Analytics complies with CCPA in the following ways:
Conclusion
If your online business involves collecting information and personal data from California residents, you must comply with CCPA. Although some of the features of CCPA Google Analytics don’t comply with California Consumer Privacy Act, you can manipulate the default features to stop it from collecting data automatically. If you need clarification on CCPA compliance, go online and explore the various ways to make your Google Analytics compliant with CCPA.