Etsy and KISSmetrics - What Do We Do Now????

If you don't know what the title of my blog post means, you'll want to look here:

http://etsybitch.blogspot.com/2011/08/etsy-evil-to-core.html

And PussDaddy Blogs: http://pussdaddyblogs.blogspot.com/2011/08/etsy-kissmetrics-translated-into-plain.html

Many sellers and buyers are upset. I've been looking in the forums and basically from what I can discern, Etsy issued a statement saying they did not know what happened, and they removed Kissmetrics from the site. However, people are finding the rogue cookie on their computers. And it affects ANYONE who used/uses Etsy. The more the news gets out, I am sure those of us who sell on Etsy will see less traffic.

Some of KISSmetric's lovely customers: http://www.kissmetrics.com/community

Also, see this Wired article - http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/07/undeletable-cookie/ and http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/you-deleted-your-cookies-think-again/
posted by guschisantiquefinds.


I'm no computer expert, but I'm just as paranoid as the next internet user. I thought I would pass on some suggestions for people to use on their computers if they want to try to remove the cookie. Apparently if you have an iPad, you are probably safe because it does not use Flash (thanks, Steve Jobs!).

EDIT: I went to the KISSmetrics site on my iPad and it told me it was installed in my browser. YAY.


The top four recommended in the forums (some work with Firefox - it is thought Firefox helps block the LSOs, etags in particular, but I don't know the whole story, but I use it anyway):

Better Privacy https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/

Ghostery http://www.ghostery.com/

AdBlock http://adblockplus.org/en/

CCleaner http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER


In addition, although I don't know if they will help with that particular cookie but are good to have:

SpyBot: http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

AdAware: http://www.lavasoft.com/

WOT: http://www.mywot.com/

NoScript: http://noscript.net/

Avast Antivirus: http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download

Many computer savvy people have suggested these to me, and I use everything except Ghostery, which I haven't downloaded yet. I hope you find these links helpful, and give you some protection until we hear from Etsy as to what needs to happen next.

Thanks to Maya of SWStitchery also wanted to add some information she got from McLoveBuddy in the Etsy forums:

To opt out directly via Kissmetrics: http://www.kissmetrics.com/user-privacy

"...the opt-out button will block Kissmetrics on all the sites that you visit that might still use Kissmetrics. It's not for companies.

Kissmetric's statement regarding the opt-out for consumers: "As an additional step to respecting consumer privacy and providing additional tools for our customers, consumers can use the controls below to opt-out or opt-in of tracking b KISSmetrics across all KISSmetrics-enabled websites."

Source: http://www.etsy.com/teams/7718/site-help/discuss//8793215/page/35

EDIT: I went to the KISSmetrics user-privacy site and found their opt-out button. Before I clicked it, the site told me my browser was helping them compile data, yada yada, and thanked me for it. No words to tell you how I feel about that.

If you know of other trustworthy tools to add to this list, please share!

Please email me at mara (at) indiscretion (dot) us if you are unable to post any additional information. Some people have not been able to comment and I am not sure why.


Mara