Can we disable or at least somehow control automated variables? | Community
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T
thomas_amsler
Level 6
May 16, 2019
Solved

Can we disable or at least somehow control automated variables?

  • May 16, 2019
  • 5 replies
  • 5264 views

We are bound to a rather strict rulset regarding data security. Adobe Analytics seems to not cater for these modern needs as it propagates values in parameters where you can't control the values:

  • activityMap: The most annyoing and dangerous feature which we hopefully should be able to disable through the UI soon.
  • r: as long as you don't use the no-referer header this can contain dangerous data (if the referer is a badly build website with PII in the url)
  • g: similar to r, but here at least we have a little bit control over the website and should enforce to not have PII in the url
  • pev1: Exit Links and Download Links always propagate this Link URL parameter with the href of the a tag that triggered the event. Even if you don't use the automated link tracking from the Analytics Extension. Examples are PDFs that are generated with the name of a user or links to a website (or social media page where the username is usually part of the url)

Is there a way to disable these parameters or at least be able to modify them. According to this page they are not exposed as s. variables:

Data Collection Query Parameters

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    Best answer by thomas_amsler

    Regarding the variables, thanks I found out a few things regarding this in the meantime as well; not all are documented properly though:

    • g can be set with s.pageURL. Changing document.location.href is something we cannot do as SPAs use this for their routing as well
    • r can be set with s.referrer

    For the activityMap I use this code snipped:

    if (typeof s.ActivityMap === 'object') {

       s.ActivityMap.link = function() {

       return false;

      };

    }

    Regarding IP, this happens already on the cloud, so the IP was already sent out of my country to a server somwhere. Big no-go in banking and insurance companies. The only way to prevent the IP to be propagated is a proxy and that is not a limitation of Adobe but just how http works.

    5 replies

    Asheesh_Pandey
    Community Advisor
    Asheesh_PandeyCommunity Advisor
    Community Advisor
    May 27, 2019

    Hi Thomas,

    1. To control Activity Map use either of the below methods Stopping Activity Map Link Tracking OR s.ActivityMap.linkExclusions OR s.ActivityMap.regionExclusions
    2. The referrer is used in many out of the box adobe reports so disable it may not be a good option, however, you can custom set referrer value to exclude any PII issue. syntax 
      s.referrer=<%=referrerVar%> // custom code to remove PII by using document.referrer to grab clean referrer value.
    3. The current url (g) use for pages reports and you can also custom set it with document.location.href
    4. You can also disable automatic link tracking by using below setting in custom code section of analytics tool.
    s.trackDownloadLinks=false
    s.trackExternalLinks=false

    Thanks,

    Asheesh

      M
      malshalabi
      Level 3
      May 29, 2019

      asheeshp​ thanks for the feedback. What about the IP address?

      Asheesh_Pandey
      Community Advisor
      Asheesh_PandeyCommunity Advisor
      Community Advisor
      May 30, 2019

      Use Analytics > Admin > Report Suites > Edit Settings > General > General Account Settings to IP Obfuscation.

      You can turns IP addresses into non-recognizable strings, essentially removing them from Adobe data stores. When IP Obfuscation is enabled, the original IP addresses are permanently lost.

      Note: The IP addresses are obfuscated everywhere in Analytics, including Data Warehouse. However, the IP setting in Target is controlled separately, so this setting has no impact on Target.

      If IP obfuscation is enabled, IP exclusion happens before the IP address is obfuscated, so customers don'’t need to change anything when they enable IP obfuscation.

      •      Checking Disabled leaves the IP address in the data.
      •      Checking Obfuscate IP address changes the IP to a hashed value (e.g., 234abc6493872038).
      •      Checking Remove IP address replaces the IP address with x.x.x.x in the data, after geo-lookup.

      Check the desired default IP Obfuscation setting for new report suite > Configure IP Obfuscation - Analytics Help and Reference

      Good Read

      Adobe Analytics and GDPR

      Overview of what data Adobe Analytics collects and other privacy considerations - Privacy Overview

      Thanks,

      Asheesh

        T
        thomas_amslerAuthorAccepted solution
        Level 6
        June 4, 2019

        Regarding the variables, thanks I found out a few things regarding this in the meantime as well; not all are documented properly though:

        • g can be set with s.pageURL. Changing document.location.href is something we cannot do as SPAs use this for their routing as well
        • r can be set with s.referrer

        For the activityMap I use this code snipped:

        if (typeof s.ActivityMap === 'object') {

           s.ActivityMap.link = function() {

           return false;

          };

        }

        Regarding IP, this happens already on the cloud, so the IP was already sent out of my country to a server somwhere. Big no-go in banking and insurance companies. The only way to prevent the IP to be propagated is a proxy and that is not a limitation of Adobe but just how http works.

        jantzen_b
        Adobe Employee
        jantzen_bAdobe Employee
        Adobe Employee
        June 14, 2019

        Hi Thomas,

        Did the above replies help to solve your question or do we need to leave the thread open?

        Thanks,
        Jantzen

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