As we head into another year of rapid change in the data and analytics landscape, I have two predictions that I believe will significantly reshape our industry.
Analytics Predictions 2026
read more
GDPR & Privacy
R.I.P Cookie Banners: Your Annoying UX Is Almost Over
My comment on the EU’s Omnibus revision – the proposed simplification of the many privacy laws in Europe.
Global Privacy Compliance: The Real Battle Is Internal
Privacy compliance isn’t difficult to grasp in theory: collect only what you need, be transparent, and give users control. Yet for those charged...
How Many Pages to Audit for Privacy Compliance?
This new study shows 100-page audits uncover 90% of cookies & trackers. Learn how to optimise privacy audits without wasting time or budget.
Schrems III – how likely is it and how to be prepared
The adoption of the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework (DPF) was a big deal back in July 2023. But with its predecessor agreements in tatters, is the DPF good enough to last? The new Trump Administration has certainly cast doubts.
The myth of Enhanced Conversions and Advanced Matching
Google et al are trying desperately to get advertisers to use Enhanced Conversions due to the deprecation of 3P cookies. My personal pov is that this approach is an even bigger invasion of privacy than before – I call it “cookies on steroids”.
Is There a Future for Web Analytics?
In 2008 as I was walking out of the door at Google, I predicted the next big thing in web analytics was privacy. Of course I was wrong, but it did come eventually in the form of the GDPR. And thank God for that. The wild west surveillance economy was getting out of hand.
3P Cookies v Benign Data v Cookies on Steroids
Google are pushing hard for website owners to adopt Enhanced Conversions – also referred to as “hashed first-party data”. This post outlines the implications of using this, its impact on customer trust, and the alternatives for data collection.
Why I Am Joining the Piwik PRO Advisory Board
In my role, I will be advising the leadership team with their long term strategic development. It comes at a pivotal time in our industry, with so much at stake – user concerns about privacy, adtech regulation, the demise of 3rd-party cookies, and the switch-off of Universal Analytics.
11 years ago and a guy called Max Schrems
11 years ago a guy called Max Schrems burst on to the scene. I thought then “At last, online privacy will be taken seriously. The industry I have worked in is at a tipping point”…
European Google Analytics Alternatives – #2 Jigsaws and Device Fingerprints
All collected data contains potential device identifiers – and by extension, user identifiers. The visitor’s IP address is an obvious one. However, there are many others that may seem benign at first, but when enough of them are stitched together, can be used like a jigsaw to build up a picture of the visitor.
European Google Analytics Alternatives – #1 Private Clouds
Like most data professionals in the EU, I have been looking at alternatives to Google Analytics that have “better” privacy compliance. In this post I am defining an alternative to Google Analytics as being an EU based analytics company.