Jetpack imposed Quantcast cookie __qca – what is it for?

  • Resolved TheSupercargo

    (@thesupercargo)


    9 years, 6 months ago

    I am trying to set up a Privacy policy as required under EU law. Using plugins oik, oik-privacy-policy and cookie cat. I have no advertising on my site and only want to have cookies that are strictly necessary and related to performance or functionality as defined in the International Chamber of Commerce UK Cookie guide. I don’t want to find myself imposing cookies the ICC UK describe as targeting or advertising cookies.

    Using Cookie Cat I find my site is feeding only WP or Google analytic cookies with one exception: the cookie called _qca. This cookie seems to come from Quantcast.com and to return information to that organisation about individuals visiting my site. It is set to expire only after 5 years, which seems ridiculously long. It seems to me that this cookie is a targeting or advertising cookie, which means I would like to remove it from my website. Easier said than done.

    A bit of research shows that _qca is actually being placed on my website by Jetpack.

    I don’t understand what purpose it serves – it certainly doesn’t serve any purpose for me – but if it is important for Jetpack to function I would like to know what it does so I can categorise it for visitors.

    In the WP Forums I found a thread dating from 4 years ago in which Matt Mullenweg writes of this cookie: “We’re going to use this to provide some cool features around uniques and people counting.”

    However I can’t find any explanation of any “cool features” related to the _qca cookie that have appeared in the last 4 years. Can someone point me to such an explanation, please?

    If there isn’t such an explanation, after four years isn’t it time someone wrote one?

    Without a clear explanation of what _qca is for, and an assurance that it is not channeling information about my visitors to commercial exploiters, I would like stop it.

    It will be disappointing if the only way to remove this cookie is to stop using Jetpack altogether.

    https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/jetpack/

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Plugin Author Jeremy Herve

    (@jeherve)

    Jetpack Mechanic ??

    Jetpack’s Stats module did indeed include Quantcast tracking in the past. That tracking code, and the cookie that was created by Quantcast, were removed from Jetpack in version 2.8, on January 31, 2014.

    I checked your site, but couldn’t find any Quantcast cookie:
    https://cloudup.com/cpwWjyIZnZT

    Do you see the cookie on another site of yours? If so, could you let me know its URL, so I can take a look?

    If you want it to remain private, you can also contact us via this contact form:
    https://jetpack.me/contact-support/

    Thread Starter TheSupercargo

    (@thesupercargo)

    Hi Jeremy,

    And thanks for getting back. The two websites in question are both sub-domains:
    https://atthequill.thesupercargo.com
    https://stopsandstories.thesupercargo.com

    Sorry for not providing the URLs before.

    The screenshot you sent certainly looks very low on cookie content. What browser are you using to do that?

    Thanks,

    John

    Plugin Author Jeremy Herve

    (@jeherve)

    Jetpack Mechanic ??

    I can’t seem to see any Quantcast cookies when looking at both of these sites:
    https://i.wpne.ws/aw1v
    https://i.wpne.ws/avue

    The screenshot you sent certainly looks very low on cookie content. What browser are you using to do that?

    I used Google Chrome and an incognito window for all 3 examples.

    I get similar results in Firefox, though:
    https://i.wpne.ws/aw1z
    https://i.wpne.ws/avs7

    Could you clear your existing cookies, or use an incognito window in your browser, and check your sites again? Starting from a clean browser is important, as it avoids cookie pollution from other sites you may have visited in the past.

    Let me know if it helps.

    Thread Starter TheSupercargo

    (@thesupercargo)

    Thanks again Jeremy,

    I’ve duplicated your cookie view of my sites with Chrome and see only 3-5 cookies. Cookie cat is identifying 14-16. (See here: https://stopsandstories.thesupercargo.com/privacy-policy/
    scroll down to the table.)

    Perhaps a problem with the Cookie cat plug-in? I’ve written a question to the author.

    Is it possible that in admin mode I am getting cookies placed on my computer from my site that a viewer who is not logged in would not get?

    Cheers,

    John

    Plugin Author Jeremy Herve

    (@jeherve)

    Jetpack Mechanic ??

    Is it possible that in admin mode I am getting cookies placed on my computer from my site that a viewer who is not logged in would not get?

    That will definitely happen. Whenever you log in to your site, WordPress creates a few cookies to keep you logged in. Most of these cookies should start with wordpress_ or wp.

    Looking at your list of cookies, I also see a few cookies added by Google Analytics.

    I’ve duplicated your cookie view of my sites with Chrome and see only 3-5 cookies. Cookie cat is identifying 14-16.

    I had a look at the Cookie cat plugin, and it seems it is automatically adding the Quantcast cookie to the shortcode output as soon as you activate Jetpack.

    I have warned the plugin author about the issue and proposed a patch here:
    https://github.com/bobbingwide/cookie-cat/pull/1

    Thread Starter TheSupercargo

    (@thesupercargo)

    Many thanks for all your help Jeremy!

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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