Do Not Track in Piwik Analytics

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:00:00 GMT

Piwik has announced a new release of its analytics solution (version 1.8), and anyone using tracking cookies -- particularly most recently in the U.K. -- should pay close attention.

In addition to several new reports (desktop vs. mobile, entry page titles and exit page titles) and features (historical analytics, ability to compare multiple rows, see the full list of what is new within version 1.8 here), noteworthy in the 1.8 release is that Piwik has enabled DotNotTrack (DNT) support by default.

When users indicate they do not want to be tracked, Piwik automatically lets them opt out of tracking by websites they do not visit, including analytics services, advertising networks and social platforms.

While DNT won’t by itself solve privacy concerns of many, Piwik’s focus shows its support of merchants and information publishers concerned by and forced to face the initiative head-on.

With v1.8, Piwik has provided a new Javascript function -- disableCookie(s) -- which disables all first-party cookies from being read/set, and deletes existing cookies. When cookies are disabled, take note that some data may be less accurate, including unique visitors and goal-tracking.

Piwik 1.5 and Open Source Analytics Solutions

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Popular open-source analytics solution Piwik just received a major (and we mean major) update in version 1.5. The solution now includes several features which could make the offering competitive in nature to analytics solutions including Google Analytics. Piwik, which is licensed under the GPL, has been used by more than 150,000 web sites.

Piwik users now have the ability to track custom variables on a per page basis, can access inline help for reports, delete old logs to keep database size small, and add custom logos in the UI. But it gets better. Perhaps the most visible change is that Piwik no longer relies on Flash for drawing graphs (now includes JavaScript Canvas Charts which draws graphs using the jqplot library).

The addition of Ecommerce analytics however is what could make Piwik a viable analytics solution. Users now have access to e-commerce specific analytics for tracking orders or product views when visitors add items to their shopping carts. Piwik consulted with Jirafe, an ecommerce analytics company, for the functionality.

The 1.5 update also addresses a critical security vulnerability in the software. In non-default configurations where an anonymous user has access to reports, the Piwik server could be compromised and allow the execution of arbitrary code.

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Do Not Track in Piwik Analytics

Piwik 1.5 and Open Source Analytics Solutions