If you run a website, it is very practical to use Google's free font library, "Google Fonts". The tech giant provides an interactive directory of more than 1,400 different fonts, all free of charge, and also explicitly for commercial use. These fonts simply help to make one's website vivid and easy to read, plus there is something for every taste and website style.
Technically, there are two ways to get the fonts onto the website: on the one hand, the fonts can be downloaded and uploaded to your own website or server. From a data protection point of view, this option is harmless as long as the rest of the website also complies with the applicable regulations.
However, Google also offers the possibility to use the fonts of its library without downloading them - this is then done via Google's own servers. Here, the fonts are reloaded from Google's own servers when the website is called up. In the process, some of the website visitor's data is passed on to Google without the visitor being able to decide or being informed about this.
According to a ruling by the Munich I Regional Court dated 20th of January 2022 , this form of data transfer and storage without the consent of the user violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), because the control of the data is outside the website visitor. According to the ruling, this represents a violation of the general personal rights of the visitor, and can thus lead to warnings against the operators of the website
So what can affected parties do? The simplest option is to download the fonts and make them available via your own server.
Those who use Odoo's own website builder have it even easier: The Odoo community has already reacted and developed a free module that solves this problem. The module is available for versions 12 to 15 and downloads Google fonts to your server before passing them on to the user instead of loading them directly from a Google server. This prevents the user from transmitting privacy-protected data to third parties
The module replaces the URLs of the original Google Fonts with relative URLs to your web server. In addition, your web server acts as a proxy that parses the Google Fonts page and forwards it to the end user. The plugin removes the calls to Google for visitors. Loading Google fonts from the editor mode is not done, as it is only available for website administrators.
Do you need support with the installation of the module, or have further questions about Odoo in general? Contact us now, and we are happy to help you!
Sources: www.wikipedia.de, www.developers.google.com, www.e-recht24.de