stats.wp.com: How WordPress Tracks Your Site Activity

The domain stats.wp.com monitors your interactions on WordPress-hosted websites, collecting visitor data for site owners. This relentless tracking builds a profile of your behavior, eroding your privacy. Here’s what it does and how to block it.

What Is stats.wp.com?

Operated by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, this domain powers the stats feature for hosted sites. It logs page views and clicks to provide analytics, but sacrifices your personal data in the process. Privacy Auditors are committed to exposing such trackers.

Data It Collects

When you visit a WordPress site, it captures:

• IP Address: Ties your activity to a location or network.
• Page Views: Records every page you access on the site.
• Session Duration: Tracks time spent on pages or the site.
• Click Events: Logs interactions with links or buttons.
• Device Information: Notes browser and OS, like ‘Safari on macOS 14’.
• Cookie IDs: Links visits with unique tracking identifiers.
• Referrer URL: Captures the source before you arrived.
• Timestamps: Records precise times of actions for analysis.

This data maps out your browsing habits on WordPress sites, ready for exploitation.

Who Gets Your Data?

Automattic shares your information with:

• Website Owner: Sites using WordPress.com for hosting and analytics.
• Third-Party Analytics Provider: Firms processing visitor data.
• Marketing Partner: Companies targeting users based on activity.
• Cloud Service Provider: Services storing the collected data.

How to Protect Yourself

Privacy Auditors Institute fights for your digital privacy. Stop stats.wp.com tracking with these steps:

• Use Tracker Blockers: Privacy Auditor’s paid service blocks analytics scripts. The free version identifies trackers.
• Hide with a VPN: Mask your IP with a VPN like Mullvad to avoid location tracking.
• Opt for Privacy Browsers: Use Firefox with strict protection or Tor for anonymity.
• Disable JavaScript: Halt trackers by turning off JavaScript, though functionality may suffer.
• Clear Cookies Often: Wipe cookies to break session tracking.

Combine these tactics for robust defense against WordPress trackers.

Sources

Information is sourced from:

• Automattic Privacy Policy: https://automattic.com/privacy/
• WordPress.com Support Documentation: https://wordpress.com/support/stats/

This is a legal disclaimer. All information is provided for educational purposes only.