Removing statistics tracking

  • Resolved Ate Up With Motor

    (@ate-up-with-motor)


    1 year ago

    I was disturbed to see that the recent update to this plugin added automatic collection and logging of user information. While the plugin pages assert that no “personally identifying” information is collected, many privacy laws have a significantly more expansive definition of what constitutes personal information or personal data, and there is no prompt or notice when the plugin is updated to indicate that it’s started collecting this data! The statistics might have some troubleshooting value (although I’m currently struggling to see it), but they mostly seem to create another log of user behavior that I neither need nor want.

    So:

    1. How can I completely disable all statistics collection by your plugin? I found that the “Page Statistics Tracking” setting in the WP Accessibility options page was set to “Site Administrators,” but the statistics included data from access to the site by non-administrative users, and changing that setting to “None” has not stopped the collection of data.
    2. Where is the statistics data stored? The plugin doesn’t appear to have created a separate database table for that purpose.
    3. Is there a simpler way to delete all the stored log data than to move it to the trash and then empty trash? Even in a relatively short period, the plugin stored hundreds of entries in its statistics collection, and having to go through a multiple-step manual deletion process a page at a time is cumbersome. I also see no way to set a time limit for data retention, which is troublesome given the potential to create a large volume of data, and may create additional liability issues insofar as the records may constitute personal data.
    4. Once statistics collection is disabled, is there a way to remove the WP Accessibility Stats Record entry from the Dashboard? I can’t see that I will ever use this functionality, and I don’t want it cluttering the Dashboard.
Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Plugin Author Joe Dolson

    (@joedolson)

    So, I’ve already released the update that deals with these issues – some of them, I actually released on Thursday, but unfortunately I failed to change the stable tag in SVN, so that release never actually went out. But the current release should deal with everything you’re mentioning other than the empty trash issue.

    janellan

    (@janellan)

    Thank you for this plugin which has been operating successfully until this week. I am a novice. I asked DreamHost to have a look and this is what they replied:

    Thank you for contacting Dreamhost Support! I'm sorry to hear that you're
    having issues with your website universaldesignaustralia.net.au. I'll be
    happy to help you investigate/resolve the issue.

I was able to replicate your issue so I went ahead and checked the error
    logs and found this.

2023/12/27 20:51:15 [error] 30200#30200: *1680224 FastCGI sent in stderr:
    "PHP message: PHP Warning:  Undefined property: stdClass::$fontsize in
    /home/wp_jfzduv/universaldesignaustralia.net.au/wp-content/plugins/wp-accessibility/wp-accessibility-stats.php
    on line 349PHP message: PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught ValueError: Argument
    number specifier must be greater than zero and less than 2147483647 in
    /home/wp_jfzduv/universaldesignaustralia.net.au/wp-content/plugins/wp-accessibility/wp-accessibility-stats.php:367

I recommend reaching out to the plugin developer and provide this error
    so they can further investigate and provide a resolution.

I tried checking this line on the file wp-accessibility-stats.php and
    shows this:
    $text = sprintf( __( 'Long description expanded on image %1$s on %$2s at
    %3$s', 'wp-accessibility' ), $image_link, $date, $time );

Looks like there's a syntax error where %$2s should be %2$s so I tried
    doing that and saved the changes but another Fatal error showed:

2023/12/27 21:31:00 [error] 30199#30199: *1682837 FastCGI sent in stderr:
    "PHP message: PHP Warning:  Undefined property: stdClass::$fontsize in
    /home/wp_jfzduv/universaldesignaustralia.net.au/wp-content/plugins/wp-accessibility/wp-accessibility-stats.php
    on line 349PHP message: PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught ValueError: Unknown
    format specifier "a" in
    /home/wp_jfzduv/universaldesignaustralia.net.au/wp-content/plugins/wp-accessibility/wp-accessibility-stats.php:369

I reverted the changes I made since it seems it requires more
    troubleshooting from the plugin developers.

    Getting this error as well,

    PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Attempt to assign property "timestamp" on null in /www/public/wp-content/plugins/wp-accessibility/wp-accessibility-stats.php:100

    It’s not easy to see right away, but under the WP Accessibility settings > scroll down to the “Testing & Admin Experience” section > then the “Page Statistics Tracking” options > None

    That will turn off the Tracking.

    • This reply was modified 10 months, 2 weeks ago by craighobson. Reason: spelling
Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • The topic ‘Removing statistics tracking’ is closed to new replies.

Tags