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sandras28979200
sandras28979200
August 29, 2018
Solved

Intelligent Tracking Prevention

  • August 29, 2018
  • 13 replies
  • 11604 views

I was contacted by the IT Team at my office and they said Firefox is implementing a feature to set DNT as a default which will prevent DTM/Launch from firing. We have all our vendor tags and analytics tags in Launch. Does this mean we will not be able to track our customers anymore if they use Firefox? Can anyone help us with this? Thanks

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Best answer by Gigazelle

I downloaded and installed the latest nightly build, and here's my findings:

  • Tracking was not affected on my test site, which uses the latest version of the Analytics AppMeasurement library and Experience Cloud ID service.
  • Tracking was blocked when I opened a private browsing window.
  • When I opened Firefox tracking protection settings, by default it was set to private browsing only. When I changed it to say always, Analytics tracking was blocked.
  • Going to a site with first-party image request CNAME redirects, tracking still worked, even with tracking protection enabled.

When Adobe Analytics was blocked, it showed this in the console:

The resource at “http://assets.adobedtm.com/launch-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.min.js” was blocked because content blocking is enabled.[Learn More]

Loading failed for the <script> with source “http://assets.adobedtm.com/launch-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.min.js”.

Following the linked article, it says this tracking protection in private windows has been around since version 42, so since 2015. I'm guessing the 'always' option is new, however it's not enabled by default.

If you're concerned that Mozilla will switch tracking protection to 'always' by default, an option would be to ensure you're using a first-party implementation via CNAME redirects. However, given the number of sites that have dependencies on tracking libraries, the likelihood of this happening is pretty slim in my opinion.

13 replies

Gigazelle
Adobe Employee
GigazelleAdobe Employee
Adobe Employee
August 29, 2018

AppMeasurement libraries currently do not check the DNT variable, so impact will be minimal.

If you would like to adjust your implementation to honor the DNT variable, here's a relevant forum thread on the topic: Disable tracking by "Do Not Track" Browser settings

sandras28979200
sandras28979200Author
August 29, 2018

We're migrating to Launch and I was told by our developers that the private browsing capability for FF will be the default soon for standard and that will block the Launch tag from firing. How do we work through this? I hope this is more clear for you. Thanks

Gigazelle
Adobe Employee
GigazelleAdobe Employee
Adobe Employee
August 29, 2018

Firefox private browsing is basically the equivalent of Chrome's incognito mode. Both private browsing and incognito won't block Analytics tracking by themselves, however any cookies set during a session will be discarded after the browser window is closed. This means that every browsing session on the visitor's machine will request a new visitor ID, causing unique visitor count to rise. Quoting Firefox's page on Private Browsing​:

The Launch tag will still fire, but it will appear to be a different unique visitor every time they visit.

sandras28979200
sandras28979200Author
August 30, 2018

Have you heard about the FF Beta Browser that will make DNT as a standard feature for everyone that uses their browser? It's in beta and it should be updated very soon. If DNT is standard this means the Private Browsing feature will no longer be needed. Will this prevent the Launch tag from firing? If so what will Adobe do to work around being able to track customers that use FF?

Gigazelle
Adobe Employee
GigazelleAdobe Employee
Adobe Employee
August 30, 2018

Do you have any information from Mozilla on these new features in Firefox that you anticipate will cause issues? I just checked their latest beta release notes page and did not see anything around private browsing or DNT.

If you're able to provide me with any announcements or details on Mozilla's plans, I'd be happy to elaborate on the impact it will make to Adobe Analytics/Launch.

sandras28979200
sandras28979200Author
August 31, 2018

It’s their night version it passed beta. Normally if it reaches the night version within 2 – 4 months is should be the next browser update. Try the night version for developers.

Sandra Sowers

Primary Consultant – Data Capture Team

Email: vc.sandra.s.sowers01@lowes.com<mailto:vc.sandra.s.sowers01@lowes.com>

Phone: 224-544-0093

sandras28979200
sandras28979200Author
August 31, 2018

Here’s the link to their test versions https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/channel/desktop/. Sorry it’s the nightly version not night. Thanks

Sandra Sowers

Primary Consultant – Data Capture Team

Email: vc.sandra.s.sowers01@lowes.com<mailto:vc.sandra.s.sowers01@lowes.com>

Phone: 224-544-0093

sandras28979200
sandras28979200Author
August 31, 2018

Sorry I did more research to help you here’s a link that says it’s going to be in the next version. https://blog.nightly.mozilla.org/2018/08/23/these-weeks-in-firefox-issue-43/

Sandra Sowers

Primary Consultant – Data Capture Team

Email: vc.sandra.s.sowers01@lowes.com<mailto:vc.sandra.s.sowers01@lowes.com>

Phone: 224-544-0093

Gigazelle
Adobe Employee
GigazelleAdobe EmployeeAccepted solution
Adobe Employee
September 1, 2018

I downloaded and installed the latest nightly build, and here's my findings:

  • Tracking was not affected on my test site, which uses the latest version of the Analytics AppMeasurement library and Experience Cloud ID service.
  • Tracking was blocked when I opened a private browsing window.
  • When I opened Firefox tracking protection settings, by default it was set to private browsing only. When I changed it to say always, Analytics tracking was blocked.
  • Going to a site with first-party image request CNAME redirects, tracking still worked, even with tracking protection enabled.

When Adobe Analytics was blocked, it showed this in the console:

The resource at “http://assets.adobedtm.com/launch-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.min.js” was blocked because content blocking is enabled.[Learn More]

Loading failed for the <script> with source “http://assets.adobedtm.com/launch-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.min.js”.

Following the linked article, it says this tracking protection in private windows has been around since version 42, so since 2015. I'm guessing the 'always' option is new, however it's not enabled by default.

If you're concerned that Mozilla will switch tracking protection to 'always' by default, an option would be to ensure you're using a first-party implementation via CNAME redirects. However, given the number of sites that have dependencies on tracking libraries, the likelihood of this happening is pretty slim in my opinion.

Rydal_Williams
Rydal_Williams
Level 4
September 4, 2018

sandras28979200​ - you should not be affected, DNT has been around for ages and its usually up to client to enable it or account for the flag when implementing a web analytics platform such as Adobe Analytics but I haven't seen or heard of any tool that automatically honors it.

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