How to Block Remote Domains for Privacy in WordPress

We live in a world where online privacy is getting harder to protect and it can be pretty frustrating. Just so you know:

LitePlugin.com plugins are built with your privacy in mind.

You have the right to enjoy your WordPress site (with or without WooCommerce) in peace without worrying about who’s watching you in the background. At LitePlugin.com, your privacy actually means something to us.

We don’t use any of the sneaky tactics you’ll read about below, so you can focus on running your site without second-guessing what’s happening behind the scenes.

Telemetry and Usage Data – They’re Watching

Most premium plugins quietly phone home. Here’s what they usually report:

Active Sites/Installs: They tell the vendor how many sites the plugin is running on (often with your website address attached).
License Checks: When you activate or update, your site sends your domain, admin email, IP, and plugin version back to the plugin maker.
Automatic Updates: Sometimes these checks include even more info about your setup for “compatibility” reasons.

Tracking What You Do

It’s not just about counting installs.

Feature Usage: Some plugins keep track of which buttons you click, which features you use, and what settings you fiddle with.
Clicks and Actions: They might log every step you take in their setup wizard, or see which features you ignore.

“Anonymous” Analytics – (Not Always So Anonymous)

Vendors love to say they collect “anonymous” data, but let’s be honest:

Your site’s URL or a unique ID is usually sent along, so it’s not that hard to tie the info back to you.
What’s collected? WordPress and PHP version, list of your themes and plugins, sometimes even your WooCommerce sales numbers or store stats.

Your Email & User Info

If you enter your email to activate a license, they’ve got it. Sometimes they even snag your admin username or (yep, seriously) your full user list.
Some plugins scoop up your customer emails too, and send them back to HQ—supposedly for “support,” but often for marketing or upsells.

Error Reporting and Crash Logs

Enable “automatic bug reporting” and your site might be sending off error logs with:

File paths, plugin conflicts, your theme name, sometimes even snippets of your database.
Good for support—potentially bad for privacy.

Ads, Nags, and Pushy Offers

Plenty of plugins will send “special offers” or naggy messages right to your dashboard.
They may even collect your email just to send marketing you never asked for.

Why Do They Do It?

Simple:

To see who’s using their plugin (and if you paid for it).
To track usage for development (sometimes).
To collect data for sales, marketing, and product planning (always).

What Can You Do?

Check privacy policies. (But they’re usually vague.)
Watch your outgoing network traffic if you’re curious what’s being sent.
Use plugins that respect your privacy (like ours, shameless plug!).
Block connections with a firewall—just know this can break updates or license checks.

… or use the snippet below

// Block specific remote update and telemetry domains (strict)
add_filter('http_request_args', function ($args, $url) {
    // List of exact domains to block
    $blocked_domains = [
        'somedomain.com',
        'anotherdomain.com',
        'subdomain.domain.com',
        // Add more as needed...
    ];

    // Parse URL to extract the host
    $parsed_url = parse_url($url);
    
    // Check if host exists and exactly matches a blocked domain
    if (isset($parsed_url['host']) && in_array($parsed_url['host'], $blocked_domains, true)) {
        return false; // Block the request
    }

    return $args; // Allow the request
}, 10, 2);

What the php snippet does

It intercepts outgoing HTTP requests from the WordPress site and checks if they target a predefined list of domains. If a request matches one of these domains, it stops the connection, preventing the site from communicating with those servers. Otherwise, it allows the request to proceed.Benefits:

Privacy: Prevents plugins or themes from sending telemetry data, reducing tracking and protecting user/site data.
Security: Limits connections to external servers, reducing the risk of communicating with potentially compromised or untrusted domains.
Control: Gives site owners more authority over what external services their site interacts with, avoiding unwanted updates or data sharing.
Performance: May slightly reduce network requests, improving site efficiency by avoiding unnecessary connections.

What to watch:

Updates: Blocking domains related to updates (e.g., theme or plugin servers) might prevent automatic updates, requiring manual updates to stay current and secure.
Functionality: Some plugins or themes may rely on these domains for licensing, premium features, or analytics, and blocking them could break functionality or violate terms of service.
Maintenance: The list of blocked domains needs regular review to ensure it’s up-to-date and doesn’t inadvertently block legitimate services.
False positives: Overly strict blocking might disrupt unrelated services if domains are shared across multiple functions.
Testing: Test thoroughly after implementing to ensure critical features (e.g., e-commerce or SEO tools) still work as expected.

Optionally, if you are an experienced user, you can also add this snippet to hide ads or other unwanted elements in the dashboard. This code targets specific elements (like support banners, sticky notices, and upgrade prompts) and hides them by setting their display to ‘none’ and visibility to ‘hidden’, ensuring a cleaner admin interface.

// Hide unwanted elements with custom CSS in the Dashboard
add_action('admin_head', function() {
    echo '<style>
        #villatheme-support, 
        .yst-sticky, 
        .wp-mail-smtp-sidebar-upgrade-pro
         /* Add more as needed... */ {
            display: none !important;
            visibility: hidden !important;
        }
    </style>';
});

Written by Milan on 10th July 2025