I’ve been using StatCounter for site statistics tracking for several years now. It’s free, it’s simple – it’s great! I know some people must be rolling their eyes (I know because I also saw this in person), why not use Google Analytics, these people are asking? Well, for starters, I used it, and didn’t like it. It just.. wasn’t convenient for me. I like Statcounter. Secondly, it sends tons of information to Google that I don’t need it to have (I think it’s this article that discusses it).
But that’s not my point.
Today I noticed someone is accessing my website – this website – through a statcounter menu that is not mine.
Unless I’m mistaken, this can only mean someone has some statcounter code hidden somewhere in this WP installation. I searched quite thoroughly and couldn’t find anything. I looked for encoded sections, usually the likely culprits, but couldn’t find any (in general I try and stay away from themes that have encoded sections for this very reason).
That being said, the fact is, someone gets my statistics without my knowledge (or consent). And since I’m using an open source piece of software, it’s obviously related to that. Clearly similar issues are the disadvantages (with the advantages being that it’s open, free, upgradeable, flexible, and much more).
I find this very disturbing. If they can view my stats, who knows what else they can do? Is this specific to my theme? or all of WP? (that might be too paranoid, but you never know). I’ll probably end up changing my theme (which is a pity since I really like it). So my word of advice: keep this in mind when using WP!
One last thing: if the mysterious person who gets my stats reads this, please contact me: udi@IndustryReview.org. I won’t be mad (I promise). I just want to know how you did this. When I was a teenager I used to dabble in similar things but that is long gone. Call it professional curiosity. (I’ve also done such things in a significantly smaller scale – when I was a teenager, there was no WWW! This might be a good time to mention I’ve been using the internet since 1988).