Contributors to WordPress’ core Privacy component are collaborating on a V2 roadmap to address broader privacy and data protection issues that fall outside of legal requirements. The group organized at the beginning of the year to work on GDPR-specific objectives but has since expanded its scope to tackle concerns that are not attached to any…
WordPress 4.9.6 has been released and is considered a privacy and maintenance release. Traditionally, minor versions contain security and bug fixes. This release is different as it includes a number of privacy related features such as: Privacy Policy page template/creation User Data Request Handling User Data Export and Removal tools Cookie Opt-in for Comments Other…
WordPress 4.9.6 Beta 1 is available for testing. It’s the first step in bringing GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) tools to WordPress. In addition to 10 bugs being fixed, this release heavily focuses on privacy enhancements. One of the first changes is the addition of a Privacy tab on the successful update screen. The message…
Jetpack 6.1 is available and is considered a general maintenance release. This version adds two improvements to the WordAds module. Users can now use the [wordads] shortcode to place an inline ad on any post or page. Support for the ads.txt file has also been added. A new filter is available that honors the Do…
Jetpack 6.0 is available for upgrade. It comes with improvements to the social media icons widget, enhanced brute force protection, and better compatibility between WooCommerce and Jetpack. Its headlining features though are privacy related as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is set to go into effect May 25th. In 6.0, Jetpack has a dedicated…
As May 25th, the enforcement date for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) draws near, individuals and businesses are scrambling to make sure they’re compliant. I’ve read a number of blog posts throughout the WordPress community explaining the GDPR and what needs to be done for compliance and it’s a tough thing to grasp. The…
In this episode, John James Jacoby and I are joined by Heather Burns, Founder of WebDevLaw. We have a lengthy discussion about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), what it is, what’s at stake, and its potential impacts on the WordPress ecosystem. We also discuss the cultural differences between the North American and European views on…
Over the years, I’ve received requests from people wanting their comments removed from the site. I recently received a request from a reader that I remove a comment they made three years ago because it was showing up in Google search results for their name. Normally, I ignore these requests as it makes me feel…
UK government officials are targeting online service providers after terrorist Khalid Masood killed four people and injured more than two dozen in an attack in Westminster last week. In an article published on the Telegraph Sunday morning, British Home Secretary Amber Rudd called on Google, Twitter, and Facebook to take action on extremist content. She…
I’m in favor of WordPress collecting more anonymized usage data that could help make informed decisions on changes or improvements to core, such as tracking changes to the WordPress user interface, which buttons or settings are used most often, etc. A good example of when this data could have come in handy is the recent…
At the end of October 2016, Morten Rand-Hendriksen created a proposal on WordPress trac for adding telemetry to core, an opt-in feature that would collect anonymized data on how people are using the software. He proposed that the new feature be displayed on first install or update, disabled by default in the admin with a…
Since I started covering WordPress in 2009, one of the things I’ve noticed is that certain topics have a cyclical nature to them. One of these is the contention in the WordPress community on what data is sent, stored, and shared on WordPress.org. In a post published on Torquemag.io, Josh Pollock, Founder of CalderaWP, argues…
Akismet 3.1 is available for download and contains a bug fix that prevents it from inadvertently modifying a comment’s content during the spam filtering process. In addition to the bug fix, calls made to the Akismet API are now encrypted via SSL. While it may not seem like much on the surface, encrypting communications between…
Profile field visibility settings were added to BuddyPress in version 1.6 in order to address a popular request for profile privacy. The settings had remained the same up until the recent 2.0 release. Field visibility settings were previously tacked onto each field in the profile editing screens. BuddyPress project lead John James Jacoby proposed that…
Reading through the WordPress Hackers Mailing list, Nuno Morgadinho wanted to know how to track user engagement with a commercial plugin that is being developed. The metrics that they were most interested in were the following: – how much time has the user spent playing with my plugin since plugin activation ; – what is…