What is Personal Data in Analytics? Definition, Examples, and Best Practices

Personal data

Information that identifies or makes identifiable individuals in analytics, including direct and indirect identifiers.

Definition and Scope

• Personal data defined

  Any information relating to an identified or identifiable person, including names, email addresses, IP addresses, and device identifiers.

• Identifier categories

  Differences between direct and indirect identifiers and their roles in analytics.

  • Direct identifiers:

    Data like names, email addresses, and IP addresses that directly pinpoint an individual.

  • Indirect identifiers:

    Pseudonymous IDs, device fingerprints, or behavior patterns that can identify someone when combined.

Regulatory Frameworks and Compliance

• Gdpr (eu general data protection regulation)

  Sets strict rules for processing personal data of EU residents, emphasizing lawful basis and user rights.

  • Lawful basis:

    Analytics collection must rely on consent or legitimate interests.

  • Data subject rights:

    Individuals have rights to access, erase, or port their data.

• Ccpa (california consumer privacy act)

  Grants California residents rights over their personal data and mandates disclosure of data practices.

  • Opt-out rights:

    Users can opt out of the sale of their personal data.

  • Disclosure requirements:

    Businesses must inform users about what data they collect and how they use it.

Handling Personal Data in Analytics Tools

• Google analytics 4 (ga4)

  Uses cookie-based tracking with features to anonymize data and track users via User-ID.

  • Ip anonymization:

    Masks portions of the IP address before storage to reduce identifiability.

  • User-id feature:

    Assigns persistent identifiers to recognize the same user across devices.

• Plainsignal

  A cookie-free analytics solution that focuses on aggregated metrics without storing any identifiable information.

  • No cookies:

    Avoids tracking identifiers by relying on server-side aggregation.

  • Privacy by design:

    Built to collect only non-personal metrics out of the box, simplifying compliance.

Best Practices for Protecting Personal Data

• Data minimization

  Collect only the essential data needed for analysis to reduce exposure.

• Anonymization and pseudonymization

  Techniques to transform personal data into non-identifiable or reversible pseudonymous forms.

  • Anonymization:

    Permanently removes identifiers so data cannot be traced back to an individual.

  • Pseudonymization:

    Replaces identifiers with pseudonyms, reversible only under strict controls.

• Consent management

  Implement clear consent banners and respect user choices to meet legal requirements.

Example Tracking Code

• Plainsignal implementation

  Cookie-free snippet that avoids personal data collection.

  • Example code:

    <link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
    <script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/PlainSignal-min.js"></script>
    

• Ga4 basic setup

  Standard GA4 snippet demonstrating cookie-based data collection with IP anonymization.

  • Example code:

    <!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->
    <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXXXXX"></script>
    <script>
      window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
      function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
      gtag('js', new Date());
      gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXXXXX', { 'anonymize_ip': true });
    </script>
    

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