So, can you just keep a copy of Google Fonts files on your website host to avoid Google connecting to your visitors? Well, yes you can. Why? Because Google needs the visitor’s IP address to send the Google Fonts files to your visitor. To rephrase: Whenever a visitor opens a page on your website, the visitor’s IP address is also sent to Google. If someone from the European Union is a website visitor, then Google storing the European citizen’s IP address breaches the GDPR privacy act. But, Google doesn’t delete your visitor’s IP address. Your website loads with the provided Google Fonts file.The Google server records the IP address of your visitor and sends them the Google Font file.In order for Google to know where to deliver the desired font, it uses visitor’s IP address.So, the visitor has to request the Google Fonts file from Google’s servers.Google Fonts is part of your website but you don’t have the font file hosted locally.
GOOGLE WEBFONT DOWNLOAD
In order to display the content visitor wants to see, he has to download the website.Here’s what happens when someone opens your website: To help boil it down to something simple, we’ll go through the step-by-step process of how Google Fonts violates the GDPR. It can be confusing to understand why using Google Fonts, which should just be a way to style your site, breaches the GDPR privacy law. These infringements could result in getting sued and being fined up to €20 million or 4% of your global market share. So even if you’re from the USA or any other country in the world, if someone from the European Union visits your site, you’re still accountable for any infringements made against the GDPR and your EU visitors. The whole point of the GDPR is to safeguard the personal information of European citizens. To drive the point home, the GDPR applies outside of Europe. This means that any European citizens who visit your website and request Google Fonts from Google’s servers are visitors who have the right to sue you for violating their data. The damages involved sending the visitor’s IP address to Google through the server request for Google Fonts. On January 20, 2022, a court in Munich, Germany, ruled that a website owner must pay €100 in damages to an undisclosed website visitor. Since the law focuses on protecting the individual, all websites one visits are obligated to honour GDPR, which means that every website that accepts visitors from European Union needs to be GDPR compliant.īut why after all these years are we hearing about the GDPR again? Why GDPR Matters - You Have To Care The GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation, is the official regulation set to effect back in May of 2018 with the sole purpose of protecting the data and privacy of EU citizens. That specific action is what violates GDPR but before we elaborate on the problem, let’s cover what GDPR actually is. For Google to send you the font, it has to know where to send it first and that means collecting your IP address. The problem starts when your computer, or your reader’s computer, opens your website and automatically requests the Google Fonts files from Google’s servers. It’s a collection of fonts that beautify your site, optimize its performance, and even help avoid licensing hassles for you later on. You don’t have to say goodbye to Google Fonts, just following the guide below.ĭisclaimer: This article doesn’t provide any legal advice. In this article, we’ll go over what this means for your website, how Google Fonts exactly violates the GDPR, and what you can do to fix this issue. This means websites that offer information or products that EU visitors may intentionally or unintentionally visit. Despite applying only to citizens from European Union, websites with visitors from the EU are also affected by the new law. The GDPR is Europe’s newest law on privacy and security. At the beginning of 2022, Germany ruled the use of Google Fonts as a violation of the GDPR.
0 kommentar(er)
