Tech Forum

Hello all,

I use a pop-up blocker on my phone and was surprised to get a warning when using the link to join our ward's Sacrament meeting. I discovered that the zoom invitation our ward uses (and has used for years) contains an embedded link directed to a *.awstrack.me/* site which is used (as expected) for AWS tracking. Searching online leads me to believe that embedding the tracker is default when using AWS for e-mail campaigns and I found additional information on what is tracked here: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/messaging-and-targeting/open-and-click-tracking-have-arrived/. Searching through these forums also indicated that the Church uses AWS with Zoom.

Root question then: is the AWS tracking and metrics used / desired by the Church? Or should our ward update the invitation to link directly to the zoom meeting without using the embedded tracker? Thanks!

How was this invite sent to you? Can you tell what the link itself is? Is it to Zoom or some kind of re-direct that takes you to Zoom.

I'm not aware of church policies on tracking one way or another.

Invite was sent via e-mail (from the Ward secretary) using Church tools (indicates sender's calling, allows you to unsubscribe, etc). The link shown in the e-mail (text) is https://zoom.us/j/<zoom meeting number>. The embedded link in that text is https://xwyqzl9y.r.us-east-1.awstrack.me/L0/<original zoom link replacing slashes with %2F>/1/<gibberish>. I can type out the "gibberish" if it would be helpful...

I also just noticed that all links in the e-mail (such as the link to "Email preferences" and "Unsubscribe") all contain the embedded tracker directing to awstrack.me.

Nevermind, I think I've answered my own question. If the links in the e-mail (which is sent using Church tools) contain the AWS trackers then they must be embedded by design.

Maybe not. I know leaders can make broadcasts available on church webpages, but I don't know of any that will send the email. I think the sender has to provide the link.