So the point of the Matomo Tracker Proxy is to hide the host Matomo is running on, the point of Image Tracking is to enable tacking when the visitor has JS disabled.
Since image tracking does not seem to be possible the “proxy” way, the Matomo host is revealed by the image tracking code even if using the Matomo Tracker Proxy for tracking by JS, which is a huge disadvantage.
So the only way to hide the Matomo host completely is to do without image tracking. Is that correct?
I have made some tests with uBlock origin (in Easy Mode) with/without proxy script and with image tracking and have come to the following conclusion:
- Using default tracking (without proxy script) leads to a blockage of the Matomo host and since JS is not disallowed, image tracking is not done, hence the visit is invisible to Matomo.
- Using tracking through the proxy script at least does not show the Matomo host in uBlock origin, but the on-site matomo.js is blocked and since JS is not disallowed, image tracking is not done, hence the visit is invisible to Matomo.
Access with JS disabled (tested with NetSurf browser on a computer and Bromite browser with JS disabled on Android) resulted in image tracking being done, so at least that one worked.
My current point of view is, that although the Matomo host gets revealed by the image tracking code, it’s worth it to combine the use of the proxy script and image tracking, because that way at least the Matomo host does not get easily revealed to uBlock origin users on first sight, as the image tracking code is only visible in source view.
Any thoughts on this?
The perfect solution would be image tracking the proxy way, but I guess that can not (easily or at all) be accomplished, right?
One more thing:
What up with the different versions of the image tracking code using a paragraph or not?
I mean
<img src="https://matomo.example.org/matomo.php?idsite={$IDSITE}&rec=1" style="border:0" alt="" />
versus
<noscript><p><img src="https://matomo.example.org/matomo.php?idsite={$IDSITE}&rec=1" style="border:0" alt="" /></p></noscript>
as both are shown in the Matomo FAQ?
Or is it meant that you always need the paragraph when putting the code into the noscript section?