1477264 - Articles are not loaded on nfl.com while Tracking Protection Basic is enabled

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Web Compatibility :: Site Reports, defect, P3)

Description

[Oana Arbuzov [:oanaarbuzov]]

[Environment:]
Browser / Version: Firefox Nightly 63.0a1 (2018-07-19)
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro

[Prerequisites:]
    1. Tracking Protection Basic enabled.
[Steps to Reproduce:]
    1. Navigate to http://www.nfl.com/news
    2. Observe "News - Around the NFL" section.
        
[Expected Behavior:]
Articles are displayed.
 
[Actual Behavior:]
Articles are not displayed. A loader is displayed indefinitely. 

[Note:]
    1. Also reproducible with Tracking Protection Strict.

Comment 1

[Oana Arbuzov [:oanaarbuzov]]

This is related to "tracking protection" breakage.

Looking at the devtools console, here are the blocked resources:
The resource at “http://assets.adobedtm.com/d51a64fedd178a47928591706cfcb7e883ce6cca/satelliteLib-3a38c52c0e5b18ba749eb668c4fd72c0025113c9.js” was blocked because tracking protection is enabled.
The resource at “http://n.pswec.com/px/32e4c1141e/v3” was blocked because tracking protection is enabled.
The resource at “http://fls.doubleclick.net/activityi;src=3738527;type=nflcn285;cat=nflco164;ord=2333028321440474.5?” was blocked because tracking protection is enabled.
The resource at “http://ad.doubleclick.net/activity;src=4226212;type=count921;cat=fanta660;ord=5955491785918837?” was blocked because tracking protection is enabled.
The resource at “http://static.chartbeat.com/js/chartbeat.js” was blocked because tracking protection is enabled.
The resource at “http://nfl.demdex.net/event?d_nsid=0&d_ld=_ts%3D1532093825152&d_rtbd=json&d_jsonv=1&d_dst=1&d_cb=demdexRequestCallback_0_1532093825152&c_pageName=nfl%3Anews%3Alanding&c_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nfl.com%2Finjuries&c_channel=news&c_server=nfl.com&c_events=event1&c_eVar2=nfl%3Anews%3Alanding&c_eVar3=news&c_eVar4=adBlockDisbled&c_prop5=nfl%3Anews%7Clanding&c_prop9=9%3A30AM&c_eVar9=9%3A30AM&c_prop10=Weekday&c_eVar10=Weekday&c_prop22=www.nfl.com&c_prop24=New&c_eVar24=desktop%20browser&c_eVar25=D%3Dc22&c_prop27=logged%20out&c_prop33=nfl&c_eVar33=nfl&c_prop36=na&c_prop47=5&c_prop50=D%3Dmid&c_prop52=nfl%3Anews%3Alanding&c_prop53=39&c_eVar67=1920x1040%401&c_eVar68=full&c_prop71=ATM%20-%20prodscode&c_prop72=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nfl.com%2Fnews&c_eVar75=D%3Dc36&c_hier1=nfl%3Anews%7Clanding&c_contextData_visitorAPI=VisitorAPI%20Present&c_contextData_coreCodeVersion=prodscode%7Cv20160127%7CH.27.5%7C1.5%7CATM%20Container” was blocked because tracking protection is enabled.
The resource at “https://servedby.flashtalking.com/spot/1/10395;80822;8314/?spotName=NFL_Img_tag_News&7372575164587666” was blocked because tracking protection is enabled.
The resource at “http://b.scorecardresearch.com/r?c2=3005386&d.c=gif&d.o=cbsnfl&d.x=248854887&d.t=page&d.r=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nfl.com%2Finjuries&d.u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nfl.com%2Fnews” was blocked because tracking protection is enabled.
The resource at “http://www.googletagservices.com/tag/js/gpt.js” was blocked because tracking protection is enabled.

So there were domains to test:
- assets.adobedtm.com
- n.pswec.com
- fls.doubleclick.net
- ad.doubleclick.net
- nfl.demdex.net
- servedby.flashtalking.com
- b.scorecardresearch.com
- www.googletagservices.com

I opened the URL in a fresh browser profile (Firefox Nightly 63, uMatrix installed, normal mode) and loaded the page. The articles are not displayed.

I disabled the Spoof Referrer option in uMatrix and then WHITELISTED www.googletagservices.com and nflcdn.com (including all related domains). In this case the articles are displayed.

The other resources and combination didn't help. 

[So in conclusion:]
- www.googletagservices.com is in the `Disconnect` category in `Advertising` => [tp-ads]
- nflcdn.com is not listed in Blacklist/Entitylist

Comment 2

[Oana Arbuzov [:oanaarbuzov]]

Attachment: uMatrixArtiles.png

Added uMatrix Results.

Comment 3

[Oana Arbuzov [:oanaarbuzov]]

Attachment: ArticlesNotLoaded_TPBasic.png

Added screenshot with articles not loaded TP basic.

Comment 4

[Thomas Wisniewski [:twisniewski]]

Indeed, the site is breaking because http://www.googletagservices.com/tag/js/gpt.js is blocked:

ReferenceError: googletag is not defined index.php:27:106

Just defining that object seems to be enough for nfl.com:

window.googletag = {};

Comment 5

[Oana Arbuzov [:oanaarbuzov]]

The site layout has changed and the issue no longer occurs.
https://prnt.sc/wmji4r

Tested with:
Browser / Version: Firefox Nightly 86.0a1 (2021-01-12)
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro