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Automattic JetPack Stats Plugin Hijacks Comments on Self-Hosted WordPress Blogs without Permission

November 21, 2011 By Gail Gardner 20 Comments

UnacceptableOne of the benefits of knowing really sharp bloggers is they notice and warn other bloggers right away of changes that are detrimental to their blogs.

When business coach and online project management consultant Vernessa Taylor noticed that the subscribe to comments function Ileane usually used was replaced by an email from WordPress.com, they discussed the issue and realized the latest update of JetPack Stats – a WordPress provided stats plugin – was the culprit.

Vernessa feels the same way I do about what WordPress, Themes and plugins should and should NOT do and high on my list is the belief that they should NOT change how my blogs work without notifying me FIRST and giving me the option to refuse.

Jetpack 1.2.1 new Features Activated without permission after update
Click the image to see more screen captures related to this change

Automattic made JetPack 1.2.1 override the existing Subscribe to Comments plugin most serious bloggers we know use and hijacked control over where they subscribe. Vernessa’s solution was to delete JetPack altogether.

Every serious Internet marketer knows the money is in your list –
So taking away control of your list is a VERY SERIOUS matter!

Content Strategist Doc Sheldon reads Vernessa’s blog, so he published a heads-up post of his own about the Automattic Jetpack Plugin called “You Crossed the Line! You’re FIRED!” where he suggests switching to JetPack Lite as an alternative remedy.

This is NOT the first time Automattic has decided to make changes
to WordPress stats without giving bloggers any heads up in advance.

Not acceptable, Automattic. Bloggers need to be thinking about what we will do if even more egregious issues arise. If anyone has the skills (or knows someone who does) to go back to the last WordPress version before Automattic took control of it and bring an independent version since that fork up to speed do let us know?

Has anyone switched to the Google Analytics Alternative Piwik ? I would really love to get off all things “Borg” and use independent, more trustworthy alternatives.

Piwik – if you’re listening – I’ve been asking about you for a long time now. I’ve been hoping you’d see I am serious about promoting your solution to our blogging collaborations.

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Gail Gardner

Small Business Marketing Strategist at GrowMap
Gail Gardner is the founder of GrowMap.com. She is a Small Business Marketing Strategist who mentors small businesses, bloggers, and freelancers. After 23 years in the field with IBM and 5.5 years managing AdWords accounts, her focus shifted to small business marketing strategy. GrowMap.com is listed by Cision as a Top 100 Site for Marketers and has received three Small Business Influencer Awards from Small Business Trends. Named by D&B a Top 50 SMB Influencer on Twitter, you can follow Gail @GrowMap and on LinkedIn.
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Filed Under: WordPress / Plugins / Akismet Tagged With: jetpack plugin, plugins, WordPress / Plugins / Akismet, wordpress plugins

Comments

  1. reyna says

    March 6, 2012 at 9:35 am

    hi there…
    did the automatic jetpack can control hijack commend without permission? i don’t thing so….
    reyna would love you to read ..Florida Gators Logo Pendant Chain Necklace – NCAA College Athletics Fan Shop Sports Team MerchandiseMy Profile

    Reply
  2. Jamie Northrup says

    November 30, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    I was wondering about that! I run a bunch of WordPress blogs and noticed that happened on all of them, thanks for pointing it out!

    Reply
  3. Caleb says

    November 27, 2011 at 11:49 pm

    So thats why a new field saying “Subscribe to new posts by email” appeared seemingly out of nowhere underneath my comment form when I already had a subscribe to comments plugin?!

    Well I just went into Jetpack admin and simply deactivated that particular Subscription widget as there is an option..

    But I do understand why this is considered unethical because if they can do that then they can basically take over any blog they want or even worse destroy a blog :0
    Caleb would love you to read ..Why You Should Try eMail MarketingMy Profile

    Reply
  4. tanyahuch says

    November 27, 2011 at 11:36 am

    Hi there,
    I beleive that the automatic jetpack stats plugin hijacking issue must be addressed to the wordpress otherwise how to trust the plugins developers?
    Regards. Tanya

    Reply
  5. jack says

    November 27, 2011 at 12:28 am

    this is again another advantage of wordpress over blogger. i’ve been dreaming of having a wordpress blog

    Reply
  6. James Hussey says

    November 27, 2011 at 2:28 am

    That’s a trip, really (about Jetpack). Very un-Matt like I’d think (or is it right in character? Like how Akismet is auto-installed?)…

    Not to character-assassinate anyone here, but hey…you started my blood boiling. 😛

    Anyway, you asked about Piwik: I used Open Web Analytics and it worked out great – they added more functions to Piwik (like mouse tracking, for example), but being on a reseller account at HostGator, my one complaint was the diskspace/bandwidth issue (I get those confused).

    I noticed it was saving a LOT of data in my database so I axed it…but I think you can tell it what you want to record. Right now I’m using StatCounter premium, it’s perfect for what I want: the Keyword data.

    But check out the OWA before settling on Piwik – you might like it better. They’re very similar (forked).

    Reply
    • private server says

      November 30, 2011 at 10:35 am

      interesting. Thanks for the other options. I will have to look at statcounter, sounds like a solid program.

      Reply
  7. Derek says

    November 26, 2011 at 7:24 am

    JetPak Lite upgraded today and now we got this stupid comment tracking thing for blog comments. Plus now if i want to edit or write a blog post, the screen goes blank. I have to disable the jetpak lite plugin to write a blog post now.

    Looks like i am going to remove this plugin and stick to using analytic’s now.
    Derek would love you to read ..Find Freelancers For Your Projects EasilyMy Profile

    Reply
  8. Darren says

    November 24, 2011 at 6:16 am

    Actually it is a well known thing thing that there is no need to set different plugins that have near the same features… just use what works good and you will have a success 🙂

    Reply
  9. charlotte says

    November 22, 2011 at 2:07 pm

    I am quite shocked, I am totally against it! What about the right we all have to express our opinion?!

    Reply
  10. Shiva says

    November 22, 2011 at 9:20 am

    Hi Gail,
    I am not using Jetpack in my blog right now but it surely is not an accepted act by Automattic by enabling and disabling anything they want in our blog without notifying the owner of the blog and without providing the option of deactivating or refusing it. Anyways it seems that it is good that I do not use JetPack

    Reply
  11. growmap says

    November 22, 2011 at 1:31 am

    Hi Doc and welcome back to GrowMap,

    Vernessa mentioned that you had also written about it so I wanted to include your insights on the issue. Automattic already knows me because I’m the one that was the most unhappy about how Akismet was blacklisting my best commenters.

    I am sure this change was intentional and tonight I am seeing something else very strange – some of my mouseover text to other posts on my blog within my blog posts suddenly has “Permanent Link to” appended in front of the mouseover text I wrote.

    If I wanted my links to say that I would write them that way. The question now is what is controlling that and why has it changed. If you (or anyone reading this) knows or even has a theory on what could be doing that do please comment.
    growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Internet Marketing: Where to StartMy Profile

    Reply
  12. Richard says

    November 21, 2011 at 3:49 pm

    I think the biggest problem is that WordPress do not have any controls on their plugins. They should have officially approved plug-ins, which are only released after their own coders have verified that their is nothing malicious in the code.

    People are too trusting of plug-ins when they could have been written by anyone.
    Richard would love you to read ..Artificial GrassMy Profile

    Reply
  13. Steve says

    November 21, 2011 at 1:27 pm

    This is certainly not acceptable. It is important to know control what you automate and what you do not. By taking it out of your hands like this they are breaking a cardinal rule. The bad thing is it is so easy for something like this to go unnoticed by a blog owner.
    Steve would love you to read ..10 Key Things I’ve Learned From 6 Months of Building Niche SitesMy Profile

    Reply
  14. Annie says

    November 21, 2011 at 10:30 am

    Is Jetpack Lite the only good alternative? Seems like Jetpack should be avoided altogether. That is messed up.

    Reply
    • growmap says

      November 22, 2011 at 1:26 am

      Hi Annie,

      Not using it at all would be a better alternative in my book because once someone has proven themselves to be untrustworthy the best thing to do is avoid them.
      growmap would love you to read ..CommentLuv Premium Official Launch SALE PRICE Starts TODAY ~ Bonuses and Low Price Thru Nov 30My Profile

      Reply
  15. Carolyn says

    November 21, 2011 at 9:20 am

    Update: This part of the plugin can be deactivated. I filled out a JetPack survey to tell them how upset I was at the furtive update to their plugin.
    Carolyn would love you to read ..Your Ultimate Holiday (Tech) Gift Guide!My Profile

    Reply
  16. Carolyn says

    November 21, 2011 at 6:54 am

    Kudos to Vernessa and Ileane for figuring this out! Changes like this are not acceptable and should be publicized. Thanks for helping to spread the word. I’m off to deactive Automattic Jetpack and let others know.
    Carolyn would love you to read ..Your Ultimate Holiday (Tech) Gift Guide!My Profile

    Reply
  17. David Cornick says

    November 21, 2011 at 12:28 am

    How dare they! Surely we should control or own blogs and how they should work and present to the world.
    Not good enough Automattic
    David Cornick would love you to read ..Travel to India: Trip to India Filled With FunMy Profile

    Reply
  18. CorinneC says

    November 21, 2011 at 4:12 am

    Wow, that is definitely unacceptable.. Thanks for sharing this!

    Reply

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