Fastly

Overview

Fastly is a high-performance CDN and edge computing platform used to accelerate content delivery and run application logic at the network edge. Founded in 2011, Fastly serves developer-focused companies, media organizations, and large-scale web applications requiring low-latency global delivery. Customers include GitHub, Stripe, Spotify, The New York Times, and Wayfair. Fastly differentiates from traditional CDNs through its programmable edge (Compute@Edge / VCL), near-instant cache invalidation, and streaming log delivery capabilities.

What This Script Does

Fastly operates almost entirely at the network and infrastructure layer. When Fastly appears in browser network requests, it reflects static assets — images, JavaScript files, stylesheets, fonts, video segments, and API responses — being served through Fastly's global Points of Presence (PoPs) rather than active client-side script execution by Fastly itself.

No client-side JavaScript from Fastly: Fastly does not ship a tracking tag, analytics beacon, or consent-relevant JavaScript to end-user browsers. There is no fastly.js or equivalent script that executes in the browser.

What appears in browser requests:

• Asset URLs served via Fastly's CDN network (often identified by fastly.net in the URL or x-served-by response headers indicating a Fastly PoP)
• The host site's own origin requests routed through Fastly as a reverse proxy
• Set-Cookie headers on responses may reflect the origin application's cookies passed through Fastly's proxy, not Fastly's own cookies

Server-side data handling:

• Fastly's edge servers log standard access log data: IP addresses, request URLs, response status codes, timestamps, and cache hit/miss status
• These logs are streamed in real time to the customer's (i.e., the website owner's) logging infrastructure — Fastly does not retain or use them independently for analytics or advertising
• No cross-site tracking, no behavioral profiling, no advertising data collection

Consent & Compliance

• Consent Category: Essential / Infrastructure
• Cookies/Storage: None set client-side by Fastly itself
• GDPR/ePrivacy: CDN delivery of site assets qualifies as strictly necessary under ePrivacy Directive Article 5(3). IP address processing in server-side access logs is covered by the legitimate interest of operating a secure, performant website (GDPR Article 6(1)(f)). No consent required.
• CCPA: No personal data sale or sharing occurs through CDN delivery. Access log data is not used for advertising.
• Data transfers: Fastly routes traffic through PoPs globally. For EU sites, Fastly participates in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and offers SCCs for data processing agreements.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

No. Fastly is infrastructure-level CDN and edge delivery. Blocking Fastly would break asset loading — stylesheets, scripts, images, and API responses would fail to load, severely degrading or completely breaking site functionality. Fastly sets no tracking cookies, collects no behavioral data, and has no consent-relevant client-side presence. No consent is required for CDN content delivery.