Remove Google Analytics

Volumio Development Suggest a feature
#1

Hi
I noticed that the Volumio player calls in Google Analytics. I was quite disappointed to discover this. One of the attractions of Volumio is that not only is Volumio a great audio player but I am also not having my usage and listening tracked by Google or another ad tech corporation. It seems that I was wrong on the count and very disappointed.

Can the Google Analytics be removed for a future release?

Screen Shot 2018-10-24 at 22.45.46.png

#2

I worked on a way to disable google analytics in the UI, but then life got in the middle. It’s still on our TODO list and it’s 50% done… So it will come in the future.

BTW: We are very privacy conscious and we do not track anything more than usage statitstics, like device type and OS. Those are helpful info which help us how to orientate development

#3

Until it is removed, which i really appreciate, i helped myself with, via ssh:

sed -i 's/google-analytics\.com//g' /volumio/http/www/index.html

(Found in the Volumio-Forum)

AtB
Maartin

#4

IMPORTANT: If you do this, you won’t be able to update Volumio, since you just messed up with system updates integrity. You will need to do a delete user data to upgrade.

Can you point me please to the original post so I will put this warning also there?

#5

Sorry, I can not find it anymore. I use it quite some time now and even Google search does not help me to find my source again. Maybe I found it somewhere else.

Good to know!!! Thanks for sharing!

AtB
Maartin

#6

Hi
I would have thought that removing the GA script would be relatively straightforward task and would not have any impact on anything else?

There are GDPR compliance issues with using Google Analytics and many people would be unhappy with having their activity shared with Google.

IF GA can not be removed then I would suggest that the AnonymizeIP function is used. This will help with your GDPR compliance. This involves adding this line in the GA tracking snippet.

ga(‘set’. anonymizeIp’, true);

The last octet of the users IP address in randomised before it is stored by Google.

If you do need to collect usage stats, may I suggest the use on Matomo Analytics which is open source and doesn’t feed Google. Perhaps make it optional.

#7

^
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Yeah, what he said :smiley:

#8

The issue is not with removing GA per se, but to the fact that by editing manually ANY volumio file, update integrity is compromised.

We loked at alternatives than GA, but the issues were more than the benefits.

Thanks for the suggestion of anonymizing IP address, just added it:
github.com/volumio/Volumio2-UI/ … 96e43a3bc8

#9

+1

#10

We tried with Piwik analytics last year (which is now Matomo). We ditched the option for those reasons:

  • We needed an additional service to host, which meant additional costs
  • We had to take care of the security of an additional service, which meant more workload that we could not handle
  • Potentially, this was more harmful than GA for security reasons: we need to be extra careful since we were handling such data on our servers and we were responsable for it.

GA will become optional, as I said it’s 50% done, we just miss the time to finish it and nobody came to help us doing it. (especially those asking for it removal)

#11

It’s still in there.

In addition, I’m seeing two new targets in NoScript attempting to run code: firebaseio.com and paddle.com. I’m not liking the increased activity on my supposedly local music appliances. I guess I could put them behind a DMZ, but that might make updates more difficult.

#12

Firebase: user management system and realtime database (myvolumio)
Paddle: Payment gateway provider (myvolumio)

See: myvolumio-technical-overview-t10227.html

Those do nothing if you’re not logged in myvolumio.

#13

I use scriptsafe on my browser, this solved it before I started.

#14

Although doesn’t help when you run it locally on the Pi with the Touchscreen interface :frowning:

#15

Bear with us… still in our todo list (but now at least we added IP anonymization)

“Facehook” and co
#16

It (from me anyway) is appreciated you are sorting it :slight_smile: I have done a little programming and even my simple stuff I know how hard it can be to recode for what seems a simple idea at the time, then you realise just how much code needs redoing!!

#17

I ‘remove’ GA by using PiHole as DNS server; no changes to the Volumio files necessary.
PiHole competes with Volumio as most useful use of an RPI :smiley:

#18

Hi michelangelo,

i am looking forward for the GA removal as all the other users too. Do you have any news for us? Why is it so hard to remove this single js code in your files?

Thanks a lot your work, volumio is great with fantastic user experience!

#19

Thank you for removing Google Analytics.

B

1 Like
#20

+1
Thanks.