In some cases, an additional checkbox may be necessary on the registration page, through which the interested party can indicate whether they want to be tracked. This checkbox is necessary if you measure email openings and link clicks on a personal basis as standard, and if you distribute individual cookies via your emails. This checkbox is also necessary when measuring visits to your own website on a personal basis.
This does not apply if the measurement is carried out anonymously. In this case, no personal data is collected. The EU GDPR does not then apply.
Reason: In general, personal tracking is possible argentina number dataset if the sender has a “legitimate interest” (see also Article 6 paragraph 1 f). The basis is Recital 47 of the EU GDPR, which allows the processing of personal data. This even applies to advertising, because the recital concludes by saying: “The processing of personal data for the purpose of direct marketing can be considered as processing serving a legitimate interest.”
Of course, the sender of the email has a legitimate interest in being able to offer the customer or interested party individual content and thus make the communication more relevant and interesting for them. Therefore, personal tracking is necessary in order to get to know your recipients better.
However, in this context, Article 21 of the EU GDPR must also be observed, which is reproduced here in abbreviated form:
“(1) The data subject shall have the right to object […] at any time to processing of personal data concerning him or her which is based on Article 6(1) […] f; this also applies to profiling based on those provisions.
(2) Where personal data are processed for direct marketing purposes, the data subject shall have the right to object at any time to processing of personal data concerning him or her for such marketing; this also applies to profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing.”
(4) The data subject shall be given an explicit notice of the right referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 at the latest at the time of the first communication with him or her; that notice shall be given in an intelligible form and shall be separate from other information.”
This means that the interested party must be informed of their right to object when registering. To ensure this, the checkbox recommended above is a good option. In this context, it is best to also mention the advantages that tracking offers the interested party, such as content optimized for them personally.
3. Prohibition of linking newsletter dispatch and tracking
Please note that the sending of your newsletter may not be linked to the recipient's consent to tracking. Article 7 paragraph 4 of the EU GDPR defines the prohibition on linking consent:
“In assessing whether consent is freely given, utmost account shall be taken of whether, inter alia, the performance of a contract, including the provision of a service, depends on consent to the processing of personal data which are not necessary for the performance of that contract.”
This means that it is not absolutely necessary to record email openings and link clicks on a personal basis in order to provide the service, in our case sending the newsletter. Therefore, sending the newsletter cannot be linked to consent to tracking.
Theoretically, it could be argued that only person-based tracking allows personalized and individualized content. However, caution should be taken with this argument, as it is possible for any sender to send newsletters to recipients who have never (yet) opened or clicked on them.