Third-party analytics services disclosed to the user
Why it matters
GDPR Art. 13(1)(e) requires naming every recipient category of personal data at the time of collection. CCPA §1798.115 gives users the right to know specifically which third parties receive their data. An extension that integrates Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or Segment without disclosing this in its privacy policy is transmitting user data to unnamed third parties — a standalone GDPR violation and a Chrome Web Store policy breach. The ePrivacy Directive Art. 5(3) requires prior consent for non-essential tracking; undisclosed analytics satisfies neither the consent nor the transparency requirement. Users who would object to data sharing with specific analytics providers are denied the ability to make that choice.
Severity rationale
Low because undisclosed analytics is a transparency violation rather than a direct data breach — but it is a GDPR Art. 13 and Chrome Web Store policy violation that regulators and store reviewers treat as evidence of broader privacy non-compliance.
Remediation
Enumerate every analytics SDK in your package.json dependencies and manifest.json, then name each one explicitly in your privacy policy and options page:
<!-- In options.html -->
<p>
This extension uses <strong>Google Analytics</strong> to understand usage patterns.
<a href="https://policies.google.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
Google Privacy Policy
</a>
</p>
In PRIVACY.md:
## Analytics
We use **Google Analytics** to collect anonymized usage data (page views, feature clicks).
No personally identifiable information is sent. See Google's policy:
https://policies.google.com/privacy
Cross-reference telemetry-opt-out: if the analytics service is optional, users must be able to disable it in extension settings.
DetectionPro
The detection method for this pattern is part of AuditBuffet Pro.
The full method (what to look for, pass and fail conditions, and how results get reported) ships inside the Extension Data Privacy Audit. The pattern definition, severity rationale, and remediation remain openly licensed under CC-BY-4.0.
External references
- gdpr · Art. 13(1)(e) — Recipients or categories of recipients
- ccpa · §1798.115 — Right to know third-party disclosures
- eprivacy · Art. 5(3) — Consent for third-party tracking/analytics cookies
- external · chrome-web-store-user-data-policy — Chrome Web Store User Data Privacy Policy — Third-party services must be disclosed
Taxons
History
- 2026-04-18·v1.0.0·Initial import from extension-data-privacy·automated