Usage modes and privacy

Avanoo supports different levels of identity visibility so that each organization can choose the right balance between analytics and privacy.

The privacy spectrum

• Anonymous provides the least identity information and the least per-user functionality. It is a legacy mode for highly restricted or transitional deployments.
• Pseudonymous provides accurate per-user and group analytics through aliases while keeping the real identity mapping inside your organization.
• Identified provides the richest named-user view and uses real identities from your directory or identity provider.

No identity mode changes what the extension is allowed to collect. Monitoring capabilities are controlled separately by organization settings.

Privacy responsibilities

For Identified deployments

Before deploying Identified mode, confirm that your organization is allowed to send real user identities to Avanoo. Keep directory membership and administrator access limited to the people who need it.

For Pseudonymous deployments

Your organization is responsible for:

• generating stable one-way aliases;
• protecting the alias-to-person mapping;
• applying the same alias to every browser and device for that person;
• keeping tag paths broad enough that a group cannot be narrowed to one person; and
• removing or rotating aliases when your identity lifecycle requires it.

Avanoo receives the alias but not the mapping that reveals the person behind it.

Tags are the most common way a pseudonymous deployment leaks. A tag path that applies to a handful of people identifies them by elimination, and the alias never has to be broken for that to happen. Apply tags to large groups only, and treat any breakdown that isolates a small team as identifying.

Anyone with read access to your directory can resolve an alias back to a person, because the alias is stored on the user object. That is expected — it is what keeps the mapping under your control. The requirement is that Avanoo, and Avanoo users without directory access, cannot.

For all deployments

Document the selected mode, the reason for choosing it, and the administrators who can change the associated policies. Review the mode when your privacy requirements, directory model, or analytics needs change.

Use the public identity mode comparison to explain the choice to stakeholders. After platform access is provisioned, the implementation team can use the deployment instructions for the selected mode.