Add to any wordpress plugin tracking cookie

Submitted by stompro on Thu, 04/08/2010 - 9:42am.

I was recently doing some optimization of a wordpress website and spent way way way too much time trying to track down the fact that the add to any plugin by default includes a spyware tracking cookie from media6degrees.com, which redirects to adbrite.com.  You won't find anything by grepping through the wordpress files, the nefarious bits are in the add to any javascript file that gets loaded from the add to any site.  

If you notice that your wordpress site is loading something like.

http://map.media6degrees.com/orbserv/hbpix?pixId=2869&curl=http

Which is then redirected to this 1x1 tracking image, which also sets a cookie:

http://ads.adbrite.com/adserver/vdi/712156?d=ne6vs6owm0y3

Now you know what is going on.

To disable the tracking go to wp-admin -> Settings -> Subscribe buttons and enter the following into the Additional Options textbox.

var a2a_config = a2a_config || {};
a2a_config.no_3p = 1;

References:

Note: The add to any settings page is called "Subscribe Buttons" for some reason, which makes it harder to find.

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