Comments on: Three ways the new browser privacy modes will hurt site owners

By: Martin H

Martin H — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:05:41 +0000

Thank you for your help!

By: vbence

vbence — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 08:38:47 +0000

Social applications in the yellow area??? I comopletely disaggree. People who use them just don’t care about privacy issues. Plus compulsory registration is common on these sites, which gives way more accurate statistics than cookies in general.

By: k3n

k3n — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:48:19 +0000

Matt hit the nail on the head. Third-party tracking scripts, although popular and common, simply don’t have the ability to reliably do what they need to do.

By: Jon Jennings

Jon Jennings — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:44:08 +0000

One way around this is to check if the user has cookies enabled and ask them to enable them if they’re not. You see this quite frequently in tests for Java or Javascript. I’ve even seen several sites checking to see if you have ad-blocking enabled.

Of course there’s a chance that the visitor can’t be bothered & will leave. Or maybe think you’re “up to something” and run away even faster. Some comparative testing would be required!

And yes, Firefox 3.1 is expected to have a privacy mode built-in.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:30:05 +0000

If you’re relying on Google Analytics or some other on-page traffic tracking method, you already don’t have very accurate numbers. Since the dawn of the web the only way to get accurate traffic statistics is with log analysis. On-page tracking is convenient and can track repeat visitors better, but it’s never nearly as accurate.

By: Stormy

Stormy — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:10:14 +0000

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

The workaround you mention at the bottom is smart, but would MS, Apple, Google and Mozilla be able to work together on something like that?

By: Bladerunner

Bladerunner — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:51:42 +0000

Good article! I’ve seen posts about the ad targeting problem, but that thing about conversion rates was a killer I hadn’t thought about at all. It makes sense when you look at it that way, though.

Eugene, if it’s not in there by default, it can’t possibly count. Most users don’t go searching for plugins. (Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s what I think.)

I heard such a feature was supposed to be in Firefox 3, but it got pulled for some reason. So I’m sure it’s only a matter of time like they say in the post.

By: eugene

eugene — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:27:20 +0000

“It’s only a matter of time until Firefox adds one as well.” – Does the addon NoScript count?