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Monthly Archives: August 2022

We will no longer accept payments via PayPal from 1 December 2022

PayPal have announced that they will be withdrawing from the UK Financial Ombudsman Service’s (FOS) Voluntary Jurisdiction on 1 December 2022. PayPal say this is part of changes arising from the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. As such, there will be an impact on the types of complaint the Financial Ombudsman will be able to consider about PayPal.

As a result, we will stop accepting payments via PayPal from 1 December 2022 – due to the lack of ability to raise historical (pre 2021) complaints and disputes. This is for mutual protection of Direction Forward and our clients. Payments can still be made securely online with a debit/credit card, via a protected Direct Debit mandate, and via bank transfer (including Faster Payments, BACS, CHAPS).

A statement regarding this is available from the FOS is here.

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Italy warns over the use of Google Analytics

Italy warns over the use of Google Analytics

Italy is the latest country to warn over the use of Google Analytics, when collecting personal data on website/app visitors and users.

Google Analytics can be configured to collect both personalised and anonymous data. When collecting personal data, this is subject to the UK GDPR in the UK (and the GDPR in the EU). The key issue is the transfer of this data to the US for processing, where the core of the Google Analytics platform is based. The US does not have sufficient safeguarding laws in place to protect the transfer, storage, and processing of this data under the GDPR.

This latest finding by the Italian data protection authority (Garante) follows similar complaints and warnings from France in February and Austria in January. The Garante found that use of Google Analytics resulted in the collection of many types of user data, including device IP address, browser information, OS, screen resolution, language selection, etc – which were transferred to the US without adequate supplementary measures being applied to raise the level of protection to the necessary legal standard.

Italy’s DPA has given the publisher of the particular website in this case 90 days to fix the compliance violation. The decision has a wider significance, in that other national websites that use Google Analytics should take note and check their own compliance, writing in a press release the Garante said:

“The Authority draws the attention of all Italian managers of websites, public and private, to the illegality of transfers made to the United States through GA [Google Analytics], also in consideration of the numerous reports and questions that are being received by the Office, and invites all data controllers to verify the compliance of the methods of use of cookies and other tracking tools used on its websites, with particular attention to Google Analytics and other similar services, with the legislation on the protection of personal data.” (translated from Italian).

Google has a detailed explanation of the privacy controls available in Google Analytics here.

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