dashboard telemetry are sent to app.posthog.com regardless of user consent

[gberche-orange]

Describe the bug

The dashboard seems sending analytics to app.posthog.com even before the user accepts the cookies

We use cookies to understand how users interact with Testkube by collecting and reporting information anonymously

Even after denying the cookies, posts to app.posthog.com are made.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Open the dashboard in a private window with browser tools
2. don't yet accept nor decline cookies
3. look at requests made to app.posthog.com
4. deny cookies
5. look at requests still made to app.posthog.com

Expected behavior

According to #2550

PostHog is only initialised if the user accepts the cookies

The analytics should therefore likely not be sent to app.posthog.com prior to use giving consent by accepting cookies, nor after the user denying cookies

Also, providing more transparency to users as to what information is shared would be useful. The current requests made to PostHog are currently hard to reason about from users, appearing as black box data sending

Here is curl capture from firefox requests
curl 'https://app.posthog.com/s/?compression=gzip-js&ip=1&_=1680620339336&ver=1.51.5' -X POST -H 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/102.0' -H 'Accept: */*' -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,fr-FR;q=0.8,fr;q=0.5,en;q=0.3' -H 'Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br' -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' -H 'Origin: https://testkube-ui.domain.org' -H 'DNT: 1' -H 'Connection: keep-alive' -H 'Referer: https://testkube-ui.domain.org/' -H 'Sec-Fetch-Dest: empty' -H 'Sec-Fetch-Mode: cors' -H 'Sec-Fetch-Site: cross-site' -H 'TE: trailers' --data-raw $'\x1f\x8b\x08\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x03\xed\x93[k\x021\x10\x85\xffK\xf0q\x17&\x9b\xeb\xees\xa1\x08\xa5T\xe9SK\x91\x98K\x8d\xe2f\xdd\xc4Z\x91\xfe\xf7Fz\x11\x8aB}\xf1\xc9\xd733\x87a\xbe9\xcf;d\xdfl\x9bP\x83\x06\xb1U]\x9c\x85\x84\n\xd4\xf5\xa1\xb3}\xf26\xa2fw\xa8L\x8cJj\xaf\xa4mgQC\n\xf4#\xc4\xb0\xee\xf5\x97\xe4\rjj"\x0b\xf4\x8e\x1a(\xd0\x165\x98V\x1f\x05J~icR\xcb.\x0b\\\x02\xaf\x80\x10N\x19\xe4\xd2 \xda\x18}h\'\xfbY\x84\xa5\xa0ZW\x0e8\xc5S]\x02\xc5\xa2\xa65&\x15\x01\xc9K\xcd\x04\xa3UUb\xa7(@yhf\x98\x11\x95w\x1fl|k\xc2\xe6\xaf\x17\x17SZ\x82\xd5ZM\x05\xb55c\xce\xc8\xd3f\xaa6"{\xa5\xb0\xb0m\xb6\xe9fzr3\x1f\xbd\x1a\xeeW\x0fr\xd5\xcfF\xf7\xdc\xcd\x17\xeb[\xfb8\\\x00P\x1d\xfc\xcdx94\xd3\xa7\xbbq\x08\041O\x1a\x1f\x93ou\xfa]\x03\xa8U\x8e2\xcbjU\x02a\x005vN\x0bE\xd8\x91-\xbe\x9b\x1d3\x04\xe5\xfb\x04\xe7\xa2\xcd\x8c*)\xf3\xb9.\x81L\xd2S\xc4\x18\xad\xaf\xc4\xfeOL\xc8\xfc\xfb\x17\x09\xd9>HG\x89\xf1k\xc6\xce\041\xc6%\xbe\x0c\xb1\x93\xc0\xc4\x15\xd89\xc0X\x8e\xd8\xcb\'\x8dK\xd5)\xc9\x06\x00\x00'

curl 'https://app.posthog.com/s/?compression=gzip-js&ip=1&_=1680620345340&ver=1.51.5' -X POST -H 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/102.0' -H 'Accept: */*' -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,fr-FR;q=0.8,fr;q=0.5,en;q=0.3' -H 'Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br' -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' -H 'Origin: https://testkube-ui.domain.org' -H 'DNT: 1' -H 'Connection: keep-alive' -H 'Referer: https://testkube-ui.domain.org/' -H 'Sec-Fetch-Dest: empty' -H 'Sec-Fetch-Mode: cors' -H 'Sec-Fetch-Site: cross-site' -H 'TE: trailers' --data-raw $'\x1f\x8b\x08\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x03\xed\x92\xcbK\x031\x10\xc6\xff\x97\xd0\xe3.L6\x93dw\xcf\x82\x08\xe2\x0bO\x8a\x944\x0f\x1bK7k\x13_H\xffw\xa7\xf8(J{\xf0\xe2\xc9[\xf8\xe6\xf7}\x99d\xe6\xfa\x95\xf9G?\x14\xd6\xb3I\x1e\xcc\x98\xe7\xa9\xb0\x8a\x8d\xab4\xfaU\x89>\xb3\xfeu[\x99:S\xccF)/\xa3g\xbd\xa8\xd8\xa7\x90\xd3\xc3\xca\x92\xc4\xc9\x9br,1\rd\xa5\xf4g\xd6+\xa1*\xf6\xc2zT\xb2b\xd1\x11\x84\x9a\x94\x12\x97\xfe4\x84\xec\xe9rX\xdf\xac\xdf\x95\\\xccr$D\xb5\xa0\x1a\x10\x88\x8dn\xa84\xc9>g\n\x9dn\xfc\x8c\xb7\x1a\xadm\x02(\xe43[\x03r\xdda\xc7E#\xa0U\xb5\x95Zb\xd3\xd4<\x18\x04\xa8\xb7\xb0\xe4R\x18z\xdd\xe4)\x0e.=\xfd\xccRz\x865xk\xcdL\xa3\xef\xa4\x0c\xae\xdd\x1ff:\xa7)\xab\xa4\x85\x1f(f\x9c\xdb\xe9\xc1\xdd\xf9\xadS\xf1\xfe\xac\xbd_\xcd\xcfOT\xb8[<\x1c\xfa\xcb\xa3\x05\x00\xda\x14\x0f.\x96Gnvu|\x91R"\xa7\x8b\xb9\xc4\xc1\x96\xaf6\x00\xbd\x09(\xbd\xecL\rB\x02t<\x04\xab\x8d\x90;\xba\xf8\x80\x83t\x82\xd1\xff\xa4\x8f\x8f\xe4\xa0\xf4\xba\xfa\x8b\xa1b\xf3>TM\xd5\xddC\xadQt\x9b^6\xb4\xa2X\xa2%t\x9ftK\xa7o\xb4h\xf5\xfe-\xd0\xff[\xf0\x8b-\x90J\xado\xde\x00\xb2?\x88\xdb\xdb\x03\x00\x00'

Version / Cluster

• Which testkube version? helm chart version 1.10.101
• What Kubernetes cluster? (e.g. GKE, EKS, Openshift etc, local KinD, local Minikube)
• What Kubernetes version?

Screenshots
If applicable, add CLI commands/output to help explain your problem.

Additional context
Add any other context about the problem here.

[rangoo94]

HI @gberche-orange, thank you for the report!

The fix is waiting for review, so it will be soon merged and should be available with the next release. It will fully disable tracking, when you either haven't accepted the tracking on the dashboard, or the TestKube instance has disabled telemetry.

Our tracking is set for 2 reasons:

• to understand our users and their actual product usage better (Google Analytics and Twilio Segment), and
• to allow us to easily identify and fix bugs (PostHog and Sentry)

We plan to prepare the document that will cover the tracking details in testkube#3615.

As I see, the curl examples you've sent in the ticket have compression=gzip-js parameter, so you have to decompress it with gunzip:

kubeshop:dawid ~ % echo $'\x1f\x8b\x08\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x03\xed\x92\xcbK\x031\x10\xc6\xff\x97\xd0\xe3.L6\x93dw\xcf\x82\x08\xe2\x0bO\x8a\x944\x0f\x1bK7k\x13_H\xffw\xa7\xf8(J{\xf0\xe2\xc9[\xf8\xe6\xf7}\x99d\xe6\xfa\x95\xf9G?\x14\xd6\xb3I\x1e\xcc\x98\xe7\xa9\xb0\x8a\x8d\xab4\xfaU\x89>\xb3\xfeu[\x99:S\xccF)/\xa3g\xbd\xa8\xd8\xa7\x90\xd3\xc3\xca\x92\xc4\xc9\x9br,1\rd\xa5\xf4g\xd6+\xa1*\xf6\xc2zT\xb2b\xd1\x11\x84\x9a\x94\x12\x97\xfe4\x84\xec\xe9rX\xdf\xac\xdf\x95\\\xccr$D\xb5\xa0\x1a\x10\x88\x8dn\xa84\xc9>g\n\x9dn\xfc\x8c\xb7\x1a\xadm\x02(\xe43[\x03r\xdda\xc7E#\xa0U\xb5\x95Zb\xd3\xd4<\x18\x04\xa8\xb7\xb0\xe4R\x18z\xdd\xe4)\x0e.=\xfd\xccRz\x865xk\xcdL\xa3\xef\xa4\x0c\xae\xdd\x1ff:\xa7)\xab\xa4\x85\x1f(f\x9c\xdb\xe9\xc1\xdd\xf9\xadS\xf1\xfe\xac\xbd_\xcd\xcfOT\xb8[<\x1c\xfa\xcb\xa3\x05\x00\xda\x14\x0f.\x96Gnvu|\x91R"\xa7\x8b\xb9\xc4\xc1\x96\xaf6\x00\xbd\x09(\xbd\xecL\rB\x02t<\x04\xab\x8d\x90;\xba\xf8\x80\x83t\x82\xd1\xff\xa4\x8f\x8f\xe4\xa0\xf4\xba\xfa\x8b\xa1b\xf3>TM\xd5\xddC\xadQt\x9b^6\xb4\xa2X\xa2%t\x9ftK\xa7o\xb4h\xf5\xfe-\xd0\xff[\xf0\x8b-\x90J\xado\xde\x00\xb2?\x88\xdb\xdb\x03\x00\x00' | gunzip | jq
gunzip: (stdin): trailing garbage ignored
[
  {
    "event": "$snapshot",
    "properties": {
      "$snapshot_data": {
        "type": 3,
        "data": {
          "source": 1,
          "positions": [
            {
              "x": 636,
              "y": 465,
              "id": 1476,
              "timeOffset": 0
            }
          ]
        },
        "timestamp": 1680620344272
      },
      "$session_id": "1874cc2f0641bc-04179491323086-c575422-1fa400-1874cc2f065153a",
      "$window_id": "1874cc2f0667b4-0eccab74e955fd8-c575422-1fa400-1874cc2f06a9d7",
      "token": "phc_DjQgd6iqP8qrhQN6fjkuGeTIk004coiDRmIdbZLRooo",
      "distinct_id": "18704eaf45e59a-0350091ffc7a35-c575422-1fa400-18704eaf45f5d3"
    },
    "offset": 1067
  },
  {
    "event": "$snapshot",
    "properties": {
      "$snapshot_data": {
        "type": 3,
        "data": {
          "source": 1,
          "positions": [
            {
              "x": 642,
              "y": 471,
              "id": 1476,
              "timeOffset": -439
            },
            {
              "x": 663,
              "y": 509,
              "id": 1489,
              "timeOffset": -387
            }
          ]
        },
        "timestamp": 1680620344772
      },
      "$session_id": "1874cc2f0641bc-04179491323086-c575422-1fa400-1874cc2f065153a",
      "$window_id": "1874cc2f0667b4-0eccab74e955fd8-c575422-1fa400-1874cc2f06a9d7",
      "token": "phc_DjQgd6iqP8qrhQN6fjkuGeTIk004coiDRmIdbZLRooo",
      "distinct_id": "18704eaf45e59a-0350091ffc7a35-c575422-1fa400-18704eaf45f5d3"
    },
    "offset": 566
  }
]

[rangoo94]

The fix has been merged into main, so it should be available in the next release.

[gberche-orange]

thanks a lot @rangoo94 !

I tried to test but I'm currently blocked by kubeshop/helm-charts#453

[gberche-orange]

@rangoo94 , unfortunately while testing with helm chart version 1.10.321, I only observed the situation got worse:

• the consent overlay disappears immediately without user action (click or keyboard)
• telemetry is still sent regardless of user consent

[rangoo94]

Hi @gberche-orange, sorry, looks like the front end was not updated with 1.10.321 version. Please try the latest 1.10.337 version.

If it goes about the video, I believe that most likely you have telemetry disabled on the cluster, and the frontend shows the cookie notice until received information from the backend that it shouldn't. The network calls were because of this previous bug, which was fixed in the newest version.

[gberche-orange]

Thanks @rangoo94

With version 1.10.337, and telemetry disabled from the cli, I'm properly observing the telemetry calls are not sent to the upstream services, and the consent overlay is disabled early on.

However, it seems to me that when I'm enabling the telemetry from the cli, the front-end is still not sending telemetry calls, nor displaying the user consent overlay.

I properly see the following front-end call to https://testkube-api.mydomain.org/results/v1/config with response

{"id":"","clusterId":"clusterb418fa91c9eb41032e413ec63f2310a3","enableTelemetry":true}

I'm testing this on firefox 102.9.0esr (64-bit) on windows.

[rangoo94]

@gberche-orange, thanks for reporting, and sorry, that was actually a newly introduced bug. The cookies banner wasn't displayed, so it didn't track anything without a consent. The fix has landed in main, and is available in the latest 1.10.369 helm chart version.

[gberche-orange]

Thanks @rangoo94. I'm away from desk for 10 days, I'll test and report back on my return.

[rangoo94]

Hi @gberche-orange, did you have a chance to test if it works fine for you?

[gberche-orange]

@rangoo94 sorry for late response, with version 1.11.210, the telemetry optin and opt-out from cli work as expected during the user scenario of user consenting and user rejecting consent.

Thanks for the fixes!