13 ms·
To opt out of Google Analytics you have to install a browser extension
- stickfigure 5y agoNot only is the title heavily editorialized, the link takes you to some sort of add extension page without explanation. There might be an interesting conversation to have here, but this isn't it. AFAICT this is someone guerilla marketing their chrome extension.
- CogitoCogito 5y ago> Not only is the title heavily editorialized, the link takes you to some sort of add extension page without explanation. > There might be an interesting conversation to have here, but this isn't it. AFAICT this is someone guerilla marketing their chrome extension. This is Google's extension...
- tyingq 5y agoNo, it is what Google provides themselves: "You can opt-out of having your site activity available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on" https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/181881?hl=en https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/181881?hl=en https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
- mro_name 5y agolol. Get rid of GA by installing GA. Quite my humour.
- tchalla 5y agoI don't know how long will it take to simply make a law where opt-in and opt-out effort should equivocate.
- _jal 5y agoI'd rather just firewall off AS15169, which also solves other Google-related problems for entire networks of machines.
- xanaxagoras 5y agoI like this idea except for YouTube, I don't want to have to stay on top of what IPs are used for its main page, API, thumbnails, etc.
- lucb1e 5y agoA more practical approach, on mobile at least, is TrackerControl which will let you choose which trackers you want to allow per app. E.g. I can allow Spotify to connect to some CDN but not Facebook, and disallow internet access altogether for a photo editor and my keyboard. You can let a browser with privacy extensions access Google services but not other apps that don't need it. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.kollnig.missioncontrol.fdroid/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.kollnig.missioncontrol.f... I'm not affiliated, just a fan. No root needed, it pretends to be a VPN. It does take some time to set this up, though, especially if you take the strict approach and block all trackers for all apps by default.
- xanaxagoras 5y agoI tried this when I switched to a privacy ROM but ultimately I can't cough up my 1 VPN slot, I need to be always on my home network to use the various self hosted services I rely on. I heard on matrix that at some point Datura Firewall may allow more fine grained host level blocking, fingers crossed.
- lucb1e 5y agoYou can set an upstream SOCKS5 proxy in the settings, in case that helps.
- subbz 5y agoEverybody: Avoid Google Chrome for the sake of privacy. Google is doing everything to track even if you opt-out. And they will continue to implement their workarounds. Quick solution: Use Firefox. Stop throwing data at Google. Google is evil (Google "don't be evil" for more info on that).
- anticristi 5y agoPermanent solution: Move to the EU and enforce your rights under GDPR. :)
- tata71 5y agoBeing objectively less secure is not a solution. Use Chromium. Use Vanadium.
- zufallsheld 5y agoWhy is using Firefox less secure?
- tata71 5y agohttps://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/firefox-chromium.html https://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/firefox-chromium.ht...
- hutzlibu 5y agoI just glimpsed over it, but that sounds actually not good. I would suppose the advantage of FF is the way smaller marketshare, along with technical competence of at least some of its user making it not such a attractive target, compared to chrome.
- egberts1 5y agoPartitionMalloc? Doesn’t PM becomes unsecured from ASLR option being enabled? Something about CPU NUMA and the generalized malloc’s Arena architecture?
- deleted 5y ago
- edoceo 5y agoThis might be a better link https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/index.html?hl=en https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/index.html?hl=en
- decrypt 5y agoThat page seems to eventually redirect to the link shared in the post.
- sahkopoyta 5y agoYes but you get some context instead of just download link
- darkstar999 5y agoI opted out with ublock origin and dns blocking.
- amelius 5y agoI opted out by setting the do-not-track header.
- yabones 5y agoDoes that actually do anything? I was always under the impression the DNT header was just screaming into the void.
- mdaniel 5y agoI recently saw the NYT has a paragraph in their CCPA document that speaks about the DNT header, although without using the word header. They say the text in the footer changes based on the opt-out so maybe they're handling that server side, but I haven't checked it https://www.nytimes.com/privacy/california-notice https://www.nytimes.com/privacy/california-notice
- jspazz 5y agoI've noticed that on some sites where I enable cookies and JS, the cookie banner/popup has fewer checkboxes preselected with DNT than without. I don't know how to check if they honor my choices, but at least this is something you could sue them over coz of GDPR.
- guessmyname 5y agoVery few advertising companies actually supported DNT, due to a lack of regulatory or voluntary requirements for its use. > DNT is not widely adopted by the industry, with companies citing the lack of legal mandates for its use, as well as unclear standards and guidelines for how websites are to interpret the header. Thus, critics proport that it is not guaranteed enabling DNT will actually have any effect at all. > — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track
- 5y ago
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- IsThisYou 5y agoOr simply add tracker domains to your `/etc/hosts` file and be done with it. This is a list of about 100k known trackers: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/hosts https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/h... And since this is passive blocking (no need to install executables, like add-ons) its probably the safest way to block ads and trackers.
- AdriaanvRossum 5y agoIt looks like they want to prevent ad-blockers taking over. Now they have more control over what is blocked and what is not.
- fault1 5y agoI mean, the old adage is: google knows what you browse facebook knows who you know amazon knows what you buy but for a browser company, isn't a browser extension better than some other way to opt out? otherwise they would have to associate you to an account.
- Volker_W 5y agoI can't find the source right now, but IIRC, google checks your @gmail mails for shopping receipts and build a list of stuff you bought.
- HarveyKandola 5y agoI believe this is why Amazon order confirmation emails nowadays don’t state what you purchased!
- hericium 5y agoAlso, increasing number of "you've got a ticket response, log in to read" e-mails sent to non-Gmail customers. Thanks Google.
- Coding_Cat 5y agoAnd facebook also tracks what you browse. (And Amazon lets people die in a storm.)
- shtack 5y agoCan confirm to some degree as I built this system almost 10 years ago. Back then it was used for rich data in 3 apps that were all turned down years ago. I've been out of Google for a long time, so I don't know if it's still around or what it would be used for anymore.
- Closi 5y ago> but for a browser company, isn't a browser extension better than some other way to opt out? otherwise they would have to associate you to an account. Well the better way would have been to honour the browsers 'Do Not Track' headers, but Google pretty much ignored these, presumably because it would have caused too much impact, which is one of the reasons it failed. But now, Google could support 'Global Privacy Control' by implementing it in Chrome and honouring GPC headers across Google! That's the obvious way to support an opt-out considering there is an emerging standard and that they own a browser. But... again, it's probably better for them to ignore this from a commercial perspective and in their best interests if GPC fails, so better to implement some shitty add-in that discourages people from opting out (if you want to opt out of tracking from 100 companies, are you expected to have 100 different plugins?).
- SnaKeZ 5y agoI prefer ublock origin. https://ublockorigin.com/ https://ublockorigin.com/
- tchalla 5y agoIs there a way to get this on macOS Monterey / BigSur Safari?
- diroussel 5y agoYou can run ublock origin on macOS with Firefox
- tristan957 5y agoNo, but you can install Firefox on macOS.
- JumpCrisscross 5y agoNo, but Wipr and 1Blocker have worked well in my experience.
- heresaPizza 5y agoApple’s behaviour killed many extensions. I use [Bloquealos](https://apps.apple.com/it/app/bloquealos/id1554895615 https://apps.apple.com/it/app/bloquealos/id1554895615) on iOS and the rare times i use Safari on Mac, but I recommend you to try Firefox on Desktop. It’s not as efficient as Safari but it doesn’t eat your battery like chrome and with the right extensions the overall user experience gets perfect. I can’t imagine abandoning all the extensions now that i’m used to. Also container (enhanced -again- with extensions) are revolutionary.
- phgn 5y agoI often wonder how many people block analytics, since it's the default AFAIK in uBlock Origin. For HN it must be the majority. You'll not be able to block the next generation of server-side analytics tools like Cloudflare Analytics [0] -- seems like that's a direct response to increasing block rates. [0] https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/analytics/ https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/analytics/
- cmeacham98 5y agoI don't care about server-side analytics. They can keep my IP, user agent, what pages I visit, etc - I give them those details willingly. What I do care about and actively block is JavaScript trying to enumerate fonts or fingerprint my canvas or whatever is the latest and greatest web API abuse for fingerprinting.
- Volker_W 5y agoIf you have a static IP (afaik, I do) it can be used for fingerprinting.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y agoI don't care about one web site doing their analytics. It becomes a problem when one analytics company is building a profile across many sites. Unfortunately, Cloudflare is in a position to do just that, just like major analytics providers.
- cmeacham98 5y agoCloudflare doesn't make their money by selling user data to advertisers - I'll start worrying when they do, or Google starts doing this.
- aaomidi 5y agoI mean, it's pretty clear they're gonna be able to do this very easily once cf analytics becomes widely adopted.
- herodotus 5y agoOn Safari, when you highlight this extension, you get this warning: * Webpage Contents Can read sensitive information from webpages, including passwords, phone numbers, and credit cards ..... * Can see when you visit all webpages Is the cure worse than the disease? Analytics might be an invasion of my privacy, but it is benign compared with seeing my password. I am not saying that the extension steals my passwords, but how do I know it does not?
- mdavidn 5y agoThird-party JavaScript running on a domain could similarly steal passwords typed into that domain.
- herodotus 5y agoTrue, but if I activate the extension, can it steal passwords from any domain I visit?
- lrem 5y agoThe permission this warning is for is "inject arbitrary code into any site", so yes.
- hmottestad 5y agoWould your bank add third party js to their site without vetting it and locking it down? Also, please don’t answer that honestly because lots of banks actually had vulnerabilities that allowed hackers to inject js into their sites to steal login info.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y agoYou'd basically have to read the code every single time it updates, or at least hope someone does that and would publicly raise the issue (and that you're getting the same version as everyone else). That said, the analytics scripts can also do all of that. They can only do it on pages where they're embedded, of course, but especially for Google's scripts, that's probably most (not all) web sites (either in the form of Analytics, Tag Manager, or Ads).
- cma 5y agoTo keep it from grinding your hard drives scanning for viruses (obstnsibly to protect you, but really o protect them from clickfraud) you have to use administrator privileges to blackhole one of its folders. There is no option to turn it off. It will grind your media and backup drives every week, shortening their life. (Chrome Cleanup Tool)
- tinus_hn 5y agoAlternatively you could block the Google Analytics domain altogether.
- rbinv 5y agoHere's the actual extension code for those interested: (function() { var a = document.createElement("script"); a.type = "text/javascript"; a.innerText = 'window["_gaUserPrefs"] = { ioo : function() { return true; } }'; document.documentElement.insertBefore(a, document.documentElement.firstChild); })()
- Shacklz 5y agoHas anyone tried it out and knows if this also gets rid of the Cookie banners? Blocking them with uBlock origin is a bit of a PITA, as the rules always break sooner or later, and whenever I happen to end up on google somehow, getting the banner does tend to get a bit annoying
- legitster 5y agoThis will not. Cooke banners are implemented by the legal team. 95% of the time they come as a prepackaged service that runs on every new web session. Source: I've been on several implementation teams for cookie banners.
- tyingq 5y agoWhat it does, under the covers: (function() { var a = document.createElement("script"); a.type = "text/javascript"; a.innerText = 'window["_gaUserPrefs"] = { ioo : function() { return true; } }'; document.documentElement.insertBefore(a, document.documentElement.firstChild); })() And it injects that into every site you visit: "matches": [ "http://*/*", "https://*/*" ], They should probably replace it with their declarative blocking functionality.
- darknavi 5y ago> They should probably replace it with their declarative blocking functionality. I see what you did there. Won't this break with ManifestV3?
- greyface- 5y agoNo. ManifestV3 removes the webRequest API, which is used to modify/block in-flight requests. Injecting a script into every page, as this does, is still possible. https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/mv3/intro/mv3-overview/#network-request-modification https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/mv3/intro/mv3-o...
- GioM 5y agoIt’s a bit of a shame, the inability to modify requests for CORS will break a lot of frontend developer workflows. It’s going to force the adoption of cors-proxy type solutions instead of a relatively simpler extension.
- najqh 5y agoIt would be much simpler to block all requests to download the analytics javascript/web bug URL. Makes me think they want to keep collecting user data even if you install this.
- kevincox 5y ago
- riboflavin 5y agoHere’s JS for letting people opt out on your own site, if you use GA but want to offer the option: https://www.ercule.co/google-analytics-opt-out-javascript https://www.ercule.co/google-analytics-opt-out-javascript (Disclaimer, written by me)
- snowwrestler 5y agoThe basic functionality of Google Analytics does not have a way to identify you server-side. It uses first party cookies and does not store personally identifying information. Therefore the only reliable way to opt out of it is client-side. Obviously ad blockers will accomplish that. But Google can’t just tell people “go install ublock origin.” It’s not a project under their control and they’re not going to vouch for it in that way. And of course they don’t want to promote ad blocking in general. One of the comments posted the code; it seems pretty simple. It looks like it just tells every website the same thing: basically “this browser opts out of GA.”
- fault1 5y ago> The basic functionality of Google Analytics does not have a way to identify you server-side. I know that used to be true, but is that true anymore? I saw comments like this in previous discussions about this snippet: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18680149 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18680149
- Nextgrid 5y ago> The basic functionality of Google Analytics does not have a way to identify you server-side You absolutely can identify someone server-side with heuristics. Your browser sends its IP address, user-agent and possibly referer header at a minimum when fetching the Google Analytics JS, and I'm not even talking about fingerprinting your TCP or TLS stack.
- judge2020 5y agouser-agents are becoming increasingly frozen[0], and IP addresses are getting even more temporary with IPv6 (they already are for mobile networks). It's indeed possible to tie a browser to a user account server-side without cookies, but it's by no means reliable and providing a guarantee based on circumstances you can't control is a terrible idea. 0: https://chromestatus.com/feature/5704553745874944 https://chromestatus.com/feature/5704553745874944
- deleted 5y ago
- r0m4n0 5y agoMore context: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout Extensions for all the major browsers. I mean to give credit, it’s hard to provide a universal opt out as it can’t be buried in account settings in some profile somewhere (the end user may not have a google account). Technically speaking, how do you opt out of something that is both invisible and universal? Disclaimer: googler but opinions are my own
- shakna 5y ago> I mean to give credit, it’s hard to provide a universal opt out as it can’t be buried in account settings in some profile somewhere (the end user may not have a google account). Technically speaking, how do you opt out of something that is both invisible and universal? Respect the Do-Not-Track HTTP header and never generate the return response.
- r0m4n0 5y agoA) DNT is no longer a standard B) maybe they will respect GPC, the new equivalent. Actually they will probably legally be required to…
- shakna 5y ago> DNT is no longer a standard Because Google refused to adopt it. Because they don't want an easy and simple opt-out. As Google lobbied to kill the bill to give DNT regulatory teeth, and then joined the DNT committee and stalled it out until it died, I fully expect them to undercut the GPC.
- egberts1 5y agoBecause it is a common technique to stall committees that do not align with your ultimate goal. There is even a manual on how to do that. http://svn.cacert.org/CAcert/CAcert_Inc/Board/oss/oss_sabotage.html http://svn.cacert.org/CAcert/CAcert_Inc/Board/oss/oss_sabota...
- legitster 5y agoI mean, of course? Google Analytics is a decentralized service. Individual websites are running their own implementations. The alternative where Google has a central database you can opt out of seems worse.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- NicoJuicy 5y agoWhy shouldn't popular plugins copy-paste that method?
- tdrdt 5y agoOff topic but related: sometimes I see developers who track interactions without checking if analytics is available. onclick="trackInteraction();doInteraction()" Because the first action gives an error the other actions is not called. This means a broken site and a user that will not return.
- ev1 5y agoi see this so frequently it's like people don't want "worthless" visitors that don't run ads and analytics even ;)
- oblak 5y agoFirefox + NoScript is the only easy solution that actually works. That said, you have to keep in mind that ms/apple/google crap is whitelested so you're going to need to purge their pages. Takes about a minute to disable all whitelisted entries.
- a5aAqU 5y agouBlock Matrix works too, and it gives fine-grained control over what assets are loaded. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/
- oblak 5y agoI know. My point is you don't need fine grained control when it only makes sense to deny allow of it
- mro_name 5y agoI would rather not have an dedicated extension for every encroaching participant on the internet. I prefer, to have one tool for the same task in various situations (GA, FB, you name it).
- gorhill 5y ago> the only I disagree with your "the only", uBO also supports deny-allow for script blocking.[1] Beside, `google-analytics.com` is wholly blocked by default in uBO -- i.e. without having to fiddle with the default, out-of-the-box configuration -- and the blocked GA scripts are replaced with neutered ones in order to reduce likelihood of site breakage. --- [1] https://twitter.com/gorhill/status/1379819815657996290 https://twitter.com/gorhill/status/1379819815657996290
- oblak 5y agoI did not like ubo one bit. Thanks for the downvotes, though. Really appreciated. ubo is the best!!!
- worldmerge 5y agoTo the people recommending Firefox. I would if they decided to support the modern web. Start supporting Web Bluetooth/USB. Have a Firefox based version of electron. Make it easy for people to make forks of your browser engine (there a ton of chromium based browsers, not a lot of firefox based ones). Oh, and NodeJS uses Chromium's JS engine. Mozilla lost the fight for the modern web. I want competition but I don't see how Mozilla is going to be it, maybe another browser engine will come.
- jasonhansel 5y agoThe reason why it's so hard to make forks of Firefox is that it's available under a copyleft license. But that copyleft license is the only thing stopping it from being commercialized and turning into Chrome.
- detaro 5y agoWhy does the license make it hard to fork Firefox?
- worldmerge 5y agoFrom this comment on the Firefox subreddit, seems like Gecko is just too hard to work with. https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/m8cwdu/why_arent_there_many_firefoxbased_alternatives/grgrbej/ https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/m8cwdu/why_arent_t... And not related to their license.
- nicole_express 5y agoI find it exceedingly unlikely another browser engine will come; not even Microsoft finds it worthwhile to keep up with the dizzying array of standards Google is pushing as required for the "modern web".
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- rightisleft 5y agoBrave is great. It works on 99% of websites. For those that tank, turning down the shield is a 2 click task. I've been using it for 12 months now and recommend it to everyone I know. ( You can also turn off the crypto notifications )
- rvalue 5y agoI believe Safari blocks Google Analytics by default. No extension needed.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- UI_at_80x24 5y agoWhile working on website optimization for a specific company, 3 of of the slowest were all Google .js files. What's funny to me is that running Google Lighthouse/PageSpeed Insights recognize them and still recommend you change/replace them. Adsense, Tag Manager, Analytics
- mmarq 5y agoSometimes I think one should have to install an extension to opt-in, opt-out being the most reasonable default
- userbinator 5y agoI thought it was as simple as putting 0.0.0.0 google-analytics.com 0.0.0.0 ssl.google-analytics.com 0.0.0.0 www.google-analytics.com in your HOSTS file (or equivalent)? I've put that in all my default OS installs and local DNS server.
- honestduane 5y agoOr you could just use Brave Browser?
- Khaine 5y agoIts criminal that they force you to install an extension