illegal sbjs_ cookies

By deactivating WC (v. 8.5.0) and deleting cookies, none of these cookies are reactivated. Once WC is reactivated the cookies return.

• This reply was modified 10 months, 2 weeks ago by Lion73.
• This reply was modified 10 months, 2 weeks ago by Lion73.
• This reply was modified 10 months, 2 weeks ago by Lion73.

I understood the problem. WordPress reported a WC update available. I updated the plugin. Version 8.5.0.
Checking on www.ads-software.com I noticed that the latest version available is 8.4.0. I replaced the plugin and the cookie problem disappeared.
Now I wonder how it is possible that an automatic updater was able to download an unofficial version of the plugin!

@lion73

WC team released 8.5, then they got reports about fatal errors breaking sites, and pulled it over – reverting back to 8.4 so no more sites are updated to a faulty version.

Some info here: https://developer.woo.com/2024/01/09/woocommerce-8-5-0-released/#known-issue

Those cookies you are talking about – https://sbjs.rocks/
This is a new WC 8.5 feature that tracks utm_* and stores them in orders meta information.

These cookies make websites non-compliant with European legislation. I hope they are not introduced in the next release.

I’m afraid, you have a wrong perception.

Those cookies make websites non-compliant with European legislation only if you do nothing to comply. It’s your responsibility as a site owner to track that, update your terms and cookies policy, etc. WC and those cookies are just a tool, you make use of them and make your site compliant or not.

So, that feature won’t be removed from the plugin, but I think it’s optional and can be disabled.

tl;dr
I’m not a WC plugin contributor. But I’m a developer and another product lead – and use my own judgement and common sense.

“but I think it’s optional and can be disabled”…I haven’t found any option to disable them in v8.5.0…

Considering all the bugs introduced with version 8.5 (and the resulting issues) and the introduction of these cookies for questionable purposes, I think I will stick with version 8.4 for a long time. A significant deterioration in product quality. Useless and invasive new features. I think woo is losing sight of what the purpose of the initial project was. Very bad.

Hey there!

Thank you all for reporting this issue.

I can confirm that it has come to our attention and our developers are working on a fix. We have a documentation on our blog on how to solve most of the issues here: https://developer.woo.com/2024/01/16/woocommerce-8-5-1-issues-with-web-application-firewalls-modsecurity/

I hope this helps.

Cheers!

At the moment the version to keep is 8.4. The new cookies introduced quietly are not in line with the European GDPR guides and in any case it is absolutely necessary to add a dedicated and declared function to be able to deactivate them.

• This reply was modified 10 months ago by Lion73.

Hi again @lion73,

I understand your concern about the new cookies introduced, and also understand about you preferring the previous WooCommerce version 8.4 to 8.5.1.

In WooCommerce version 8.5.1, we have the Order Attribution Tracking automatically turned on by default, which can also be turned off by going to WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced > Features.

Have you tried turning that feature off to see if this can help make your site compliant?

Every version after 8.4 is a disaster. These new cookies are the wrong choice. This is the only certainty at the moment.

Hi there,

We appreciate your feedback about the recent updates, particularly your concerns regarding the cookie policy after version 8.4. We understand that changes can sometimes be challenging.

Our primary goal is to improve user experience and enhance site functionality. We have more details on our commitment to improve compliance issues on all our latest releases – https://developer.woo.com/2024/01/26/addressing-concerns-and-commitment-to-improvement-woocommerce-8-5-release/.

I hope this helps.