Hi,

I think this might be easily implemented as a plugin that during tracking checks if the detected country match your list and if so, simply drop the request (similar to DNT).

In theory listening to this event

Hi, thanks, I do wish to go that route at first, this is just a suggestion, as I think this actually can be a very useful feature.
I don't know where to start with the plugin, though, I have to really dig into core and see what methods are used to for e.g. remove visits on GDPR page.

add: I see your edited answer. I will try to test it later today. Thanks!

It seems like my simple idea using Tracker.isExcludedVisit doesn't work as at that point one only has Request which holds the parameters of the http request. I still think that excluding during the tracker is a better idea than retroactively removing them from the database as that means invalidating and reprocessing a lot of reports.

@dev-101 actually that could work using Tracker.isExcluded event. Adding something like this into a config.php in config directory should work:

<?php

return [
    'observers.global' => \DI\add([[
        'Tracker.isExcludedVisit',
            function(&$excluded, \Piwik\Tracker\Request $request) {

                $provider = \Piwik\Plugins\UserCountry\LocationProvider::getProviderById(\Piwik\Common::getCurrentLocationProviderId());

                $location = $provider->getLocation(['ip' => $request->getIp()]);

                if (strtolower($location[\Piwik\Plugins\UserCountry\LocationProvider::COUNTRY_CODE_KEY]) !== 'de') {
                    $excluded = true;
                }

            }
    ]])
];

That should exclude all visits not coming from Germany.

Note: This might not be the optimal solution, as would do the geo location twice per request.

Thank you, it looks promising, although putting this into config.ini.php will probably get overwritten during the next update (I assume). Wonder if that code can be placed inside a plugin?

I have added the code, but for now I am just simulating it. Thanks!

Unfortunately, it's not working:

PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Piwik\Ini\IniReadingException: Unable to read INI file {.../config/config.ini.php}: Syntax error in INI configuration: syntax error, unexpected $end, expecting ']' in Unknown on line 4

It seems that we must not put PHP code inside ini file, as it confuses Piwik/Matomo.

update: I tried putting this code inside return array of global.php (seems "logical"), but can't say it is working.

The hint by @sgiehl helped me create a plugin that at least in my limited test seems to work fine:
https://github.com/Findus23/plugin-ExcludeCountries
you can download the zip from https://github.com/Findus23/plugin-ExcludeCountries/archive/main.zip, rename the directory to ExcludeCountries, move it to plugins/, enable it in the plugin view, remove the part from the global.php and check if it is working with https://developer.matomo.org/api-reference/tracking-api#debugging-the-tracker

DEBUG ExcludeCountries[2020-08-30 08:55:31 UTC] [519fe] request excluded by ExcludeCountries plugin (at)
DEBUG CoreHome[2020-08-30 08:55:31 UTC] [519fe] Visitor excluded.

Thank you, Findus23!
I have installed it and configured, now have to wait & see. Many thanks!

minor issue:

PHP Notice: Undefined index: languageCode in /ExcludeCountries/ExcludeCountries.php on line 69

But, so far, tracking of included countries seems to be working fine.

@dev-101 Not sure why exactly this happens, but I now exclude invalid settings.

According to time stamps, it was at the time I installed and configured plugin, there were like 20-30 lines of above notice in the log. Afterwards nothing, so it works ok. I "fixed" it with @

I will close this issue now.
Any bug report re plugin will be posted in its own repo.

Thanks everyone 👍

@dev-101 I'll reopen the issue for now just in case anyone wants to develop something like this as a plugin

Ok :)

btw. Findus23's plugin works great so far... it's a done deal imho. It is fully configurable in the General Settings page, at least, it satisfies both points 1. and 2. from the opening post.

The plugin has been published: https://plugins.matomo.org/ExcludeCountries
https://github.com/Findus23/plugin-ExcludeCountries

Hi @Findus23 could you please bump plugin compatibility with Matomo 4? Thanks!

edit: I see Matomo pulled updated version automatically after update, I received a warning before upgrade about compatibility and that it will be disabled after upgrade. Sorry.

Hi @dev-101,

No problem. I wasn't sure myself if I didn't just forget the plugin.

@dev-101 Just for your information: There is an official plugin currently in development that supports everything my plugin can do and even more:

https://github.com/matomo-org/plugin-TrackingSpamPrevention

Thanks, this is great! Happy NY :)

Just a heads-up if someone is using this plugin (version 0.2.0), it caused tracking issues on my website out-of-the-blue -- last 4 days tracking stopped and here's the report:

Last 4 days one of my Matomo installation (shared hosting, cPanel, Linux, PHP 7.3.8) stopped tracking visitors. GA works fine.

Here's what I found in system reports:

ERROR The configured geolocation provider DBIP / GeoIP 2 (Php) is broken. Please fix the provider or configure another one to get geolocation working again.

Stack trace:
#0 [internal function]: Piwik\Plugins\ExcludeCountries\ExcludeCountries->checkExcludedCountry(false, Object(Piwik\Tracker\Request))
#1 /matomo/core/EventDispatcher.php(141): call_user_func_array(Array, Array)
#2 /matomo/core/Piwik.php(809): Piwik\EventDispatcher->postEvent('Tracker.isExclu...', Array, false, Array)
#3 /matomo/core/Tracker/VisitExcluded.php(97): Piwik\Piwik::postEvent('Tracker.isExclu...', Array)
#4 /matomo/plugins/CoreHome/Tracker/VisitRequestProcessor.php(100): Piwik\Tracker\VisitExcluded->isExcluded()
#5 /matomo/core/Tracker/Visit.php(164): Piwik\Plugins\CoreHome\Tracker\VisitRequestProcessor->processRequestParams(Object(Piwik\Tracker\Visit\VisitProperties), Object(Piwik\Tracker\Request))
#6 in /matomo/plugins/ExcludeCountries/ExcludeCountries.php on line 73

I haven't changed anything in the past few months besides updating Matomo.

Contrary to what above reports might indicate, the issue is within this plugin, simply deactivating it resolved tracking and other problems right away.

I know there was a work on a new plugin, but I didn't switch to it. Maybe that was the problem...

edit: switched to newer plugin, problem fixed.