Analytics Tool, Google, and Geo-Lock

by Rian

This post is a rant than a spiel, but thought to share some ideas on it. It you have seen some random cookie notices this morning, my apologies, if you were one of them. Long story short, I have been using Google Analytics on the website for the longest time, —probably since I started self-hosting it— and the latest changes in privacy regulations mandated that the website needs to have a cookie consent pop-up. And that cookie consent management, in Google’s words, came with paid partners. No more.

This isn’t an endorsement* of another analytics tool, and there is a good reason why it isn’t. As I was skimming through Google’s CMP partners, most of the partners simply blocked my access off while I was trying to register or pay for a plan. I could think of several reasons why —and I have experiences with many that run this so-called “blacklists”. It was one of the reasons why I ran the story on how-to build a VLAN for the VPNs. I could, in theory, bypass the ban, but what’s the point of paying for a service of which its primary concern is legality?

* For clarifications, I was not paid to write this piece nor am I reviewing the tool itself. I may, in the future, but I want to emphasize that I was looking for a replacement tool of Google Analytics and not much else.

We aren’t talking about Netflix here. Consent management isn’t a simple transaction where I pay monthly subscription for entertainment. These CMPs are supposed to cover for both the services and legal responsibilities should it arise to a certain level. If circumventing geo-locks on streaming services would result in termination in one account, violating privacy laws may as well result in a potential lawsuit —and I’d still be the one to pay for the CMP.

For all the intents and purposes, —and for some keen eyes, no doubt— Mad Tea Party is currently testing out Simple Analytics. I can’t say I see the differences immediately; the tool is described to be compliant with regulations at the very least. One thing I could openly admire is the blog post from Simple Analytics on its loading time. Some time in 2010s, I recall having an issue with Google Analytics taking longer than usual time to load a single page. It’s one of the areas Google should have spent consistent time and effort to improve, albeit Analytics tool isn’t exactly Google’s flagship product. Ultimately it became the bane of all web developers —it became the website’s job to compensate.