Can't use Prismic due to embedded tracking in slice machine

I have used Prismic for a few projects in the past, some time ago. I've even recommended Prismic to clients and set up client sites on paid Prismic accounts.

Now I'm faced with a dilemma. The content model & slice builder that used to be available in the web interface is now deprecated and it seems like Prismic is soon going to force us to use Slice Machine.

I have a couple of issues with this:

  1. The command to initialise Slice Machine makes requests to api.segment.io which is a user tracking & analytics service. Unfortunately my network blocks requests to known tracking services for privacy and Slice Machine fails to install without it - basically making the product unusable unless you agree to tracking which is illegal in the UK under the Data Protection Act and in the EU under GDPR and the EU ePrivacy Directive. Consent must be freely given. “Freely given” consent essentially means you have not cornered the data subject into agreeing to you using their data. For one thing, that means you cannot require consent to data processing as a condition of using the service. They need to be able to say no. According to Recital 42, “Consent should not be regarded as freely given if the data subject has no genuine or free choice or is unable to refuse or withdraw consent without detriment.”

  2. Every time I've previously built a site using Slice Machine I've had problems when it came to ongoing maintenance and updates. Simply put, Prismic changes Slice Machine so frequently that after a year it's impossible to update a site to the latest version without serious development investment.

Here's hoping someone at Prismic can help me find a way forward. I like Prismic as a headless CMS but these two issues are deal-breakers for me.

Hello @lee, thanks for sharing your comments and use case.
We understand that, for users who have used legacy editor it can be difficult to switch to SliceMachine because the user experience is quite different. This has been done progressively. We have no plans to remove the legacy builder yet, and it is still available for those who wish to continue using it. When you create a new repository in the dashboard with Nuxt or Next, the repository is presented with this option:

We highly recommend trying Slice Machine for many reasons, there are better options to preview your slices, and the control of Custom Type models is defined by the developers in charge using git. The devs have independence in the creation of the content modeling thanks to the mock data, among other things.

We understand the frustration that can emerge for people using Slice Machine behind a proxy. We have this topic in our conversations, and we'll work to make the experience easier for all cases with time.

Thanks for the reply. Can you comment on the privacy & tracking issue too?

Hey @lee, I've shared your message with the Slice Machine and they added a note on their backlog to track this use case.

You can use this flag to disable tracking:

npx @slicemachine/init script --tracking false

Here's a related GitHub issue.