> Can’t square this comment with the long front page discussion just a couple days ago about whether ref’ing a Google font could violate GDPR.
This is a very good point, and to be fair you're absolutely right. The definition of user-tracking extends far beyond Google analytics, and if you're not fully informed about what 3rd-party services you're using on your own website, and the ramifications of those, this could present problems.
When I said "they can simply not do so", that assumes they are aware of what tracking they're doing, which may not be the case. If you're using some WordPress.com blog theme with CDN calls built in, you might have no idea. There may even be an argument for this falling to WordPress.com (in this example) as the provider of the themes.
Realistically, I don't predict CDN calls to turn out to be in violation of GDPR in practice, even though there's a very reasonable argument for them being that in theory.
I kind of half-hope they are though, as a user. I've never been a fan of their use, and use the uBlock and Decentraleyes add-ons personally to avoid them. I wouldn't be devastated if we returned to a norm of locally linked resources (especially with HTTP2 adoption), though that's probably just wishful thinking.
This is a very good point, and to be fair you're absolutely right. The definition of user-tracking extends far beyond Google analytics, and if you're not fully informed about what 3rd-party services you're using on your own website, and the ramifications of those, this could present problems.
When I said "they can simply not do so", that assumes they are aware of what tracking they're doing, which may not be the case. If you're using some WordPress.com blog theme with CDN calls built in, you might have no idea. There may even be an argument for this falling to WordPress.com (in this example) as the provider of the themes.
Realistically, I don't predict CDN calls to turn out to be in violation of GDPR in practice, even though there's a very reasonable argument for them being that in theory.
I kind of half-hope they are though, as a user. I've never been a fan of their use, and use the uBlock and Decentraleyes add-ons personally to avoid them. I wouldn't be devastated if we returned to a norm of locally linked resources (especially with HTTP2 adoption), though that's probably just wishful thinking.