Websites Are Tracking You Via Browser Fingerprinting
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They were doing this a decade ago, to help track app marketing campaigns.
IIRC, it turned out you could get pretty close to uniquely identifying a device with permutations on only 7 attributes. The problem is if you install a plugin to return false data, it could break non-malicious websites, like running games or data visualizations.
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I really wish there was a foolproof way of preventing fingerprinting. Disabling JavaScript unfortunately isn't really an option, no-one builds websites with progressive enhancement in mind these days.
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This is why I use Firefox + Canvasblocker + ublock origin I try to disable Javascript if it isn't required for functionality for the stuff am doing or I trust the site (using noscript)
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I heard about a browser extension that could spoof fingerprints.
Canvasblocker?
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I really wish there was a foolproof way of preventing fingerprinting. Disabling JavaScript unfortunately isn't really an option, no-one builds websites with progressive enhancement in mind these days.
The more people disable JS, the more websites won’t require it.
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privacy.resistFingerprintingWhy is that even an option you can disable?
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Why is that even an option you can disable?
It is not the default because it can also break meaningful functionality.
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Really bad headline. The actual article is about a study showing that browser fingerprinting is being used in real time in pricing target ads to your browser.
To investigate whether websites are using fingerprinting data to track people, the researchers had to go beyond simply scanning websites for the presence of fingerprinting code. They developed a measurement framework called FPTrace, which assesses fingerprinting-based user tracking by analyzing how ad systems respond to changes in browser fingerprints. This approach is based on the insight that if browser fingerprinting influences tracking, altering fingerprints should affect advertiser bidding — where ad space is sold in real time based on the profile of the person viewing the website — and HTTP records — records of communication between a server and a browser.
“This kind of analysis lets us go beyond the surface,” said co-author Jimmy Dani, Saxena’s doctoral student. “We were able to detect not just the presence of fingerprinting, but whether it was being used to identify and target users — which is much harder to prove.”
The researchers found that tracking occurred even when users cleared or deleted cookies. The results showed notable differences in bid values and a decrease in HTTP records and syncing events when fingerprints were changed, suggesting an impact on targeting and tracking.
Additionally, some of these sites linked fingerprinting behavior to backend bidding processes — meaning fingerprint-based profiles were being used in real time, likely to tailor responses to users or pass along identifiers to third parties.
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They have been for years.
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Really bad headline. The actual article is about a study showing that browser fingerprinting is being used in real time in pricing target ads to your browser.
To investigate whether websites are using fingerprinting data to track people, the researchers had to go beyond simply scanning websites for the presence of fingerprinting code. They developed a measurement framework called FPTrace, which assesses fingerprinting-based user tracking by analyzing how ad systems respond to changes in browser fingerprints. This approach is based on the insight that if browser fingerprinting influences tracking, altering fingerprints should affect advertiser bidding — where ad space is sold in real time based on the profile of the person viewing the website — and HTTP records — records of communication between a server and a browser.
“This kind of analysis lets us go beyond the surface,” said co-author Jimmy Dani, Saxena’s doctoral student. “We were able to detect not just the presence of fingerprinting, but whether it was being used to identify and target users — which is much harder to prove.”
The researchers found that tracking occurred even when users cleared or deleted cookies. The results showed notable differences in bid values and a decrease in HTTP records and syncing events when fingerprints were changed, suggesting an impact on targeting and tracking.
Additionally, some of these sites linked fingerprinting behavior to backend bidding processes — meaning fingerprint-based profiles were being used in real time, likely to tailor responses to users or pass along identifiers to third parties.
Make surveillance pricing illegal.
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The more people disable JS, the more websites won’t require it.
It's just unrealistic to expect any size of the population to even understand what JS is, much less understand why and how it's problematic and even beyond that, how to disable it, and even further to expect them to walk away from the 90%+ of sites using it on the web.
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Really bad headline. The actual article is about a study showing that browser fingerprinting is being used in real time in pricing target ads to your browser.
To investigate whether websites are using fingerprinting data to track people, the researchers had to go beyond simply scanning websites for the presence of fingerprinting code. They developed a measurement framework called FPTrace, which assesses fingerprinting-based user tracking by analyzing how ad systems respond to changes in browser fingerprints. This approach is based on the insight that if browser fingerprinting influences tracking, altering fingerprints should affect advertiser bidding — where ad space is sold in real time based on the profile of the person viewing the website — and HTTP records — records of communication between a server and a browser.
“This kind of analysis lets us go beyond the surface,” said co-author Jimmy Dani, Saxena’s doctoral student. “We were able to detect not just the presence of fingerprinting, but whether it was being used to identify and target users — which is much harder to prove.”
The researchers found that tracking occurred even when users cleared or deleted cookies. The results showed notable differences in bid values and a decrease in HTTP records and syncing events when fingerprints were changed, suggesting an impact on targeting and tracking.
Additionally, some of these sites linked fingerprinting behavior to backend bidding processes — meaning fingerprint-based profiles were being used in real time, likely to tailor responses to users or pass along identifiers to third parties.
I have never been able to figure out how to block fingerprinting without entirely disabling my browser and it looks like the race to the bottom is accelerating
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I have never been able to figure out how to block fingerprinting without entirely disabling my browser and it looks like the race to the bottom is accelerating
maybe blocking it is the wrong way to go about though. Instead there should be some way to make the fingerprinting data worthless by having everyones browser constantly change things in the background so the fingerprint changes too
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It is not the default because it can also break meaningful functionality.
Seems like it might be useful to have a per-site toggle.
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This is why I use Firefox + Canvasblocker + ublock origin I try to disable Javascript if it isn't required for functionality for the stuff am doing or I trust the site (using noscript)
Noscript on my personal machines
Marketers are a pox
If you’re a marketer, fuck you get a real job.
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Headline should read "Websites have been tracking you by browser fingerprinting for a while. Google publicly doing it for 6 months."
Test your footprint:
https://abrahamjuliot.github.io/creepjs/
Am I Unique ?
Check if your browser has a unique fingerprint, how identifiable you are on the Internet
(www.amiunique.org)
How effective is the TOR browser against CreepJS?
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They were doing this a decade ago, to help track app marketing campaigns.
IIRC, it turned out you could get pretty close to uniquely identifying a device with permutations on only 7 attributes. The problem is if you install a plugin to return false data, it could break non-malicious websites, like running games or data visualizations.
Am I misunderstanding something? Wouldn't that just be 7! = 5040 possibilities?
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How effective is the TOR browser against CreepJS?
100%. They all look the same.
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I really wish there was a foolproof way of preventing fingerprinting. Disabling JavaScript unfortunately isn't really an option, no-one builds websites with progressive enhancement in mind these days.
JShelter and uBO medium mode to the rescue. Pair that with Librewolf and you're pretty secure against fingerprinting.
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Mullvad has a fork of Firefox they built with TOR (the organization, it does not route over TOR network). Includes NoScript and ublock origin and works by making all browsers the same ( so long as you don’t fsck with it).
You don’t have to use it with their VPN but that’s good, too.
My only complaint is it doesn’t support containers. Otherwise it’s wonderful.
Free the internet. With the Mullvad Browser.
The Mullvad Browser is a privacy-focused web browser developed in collaboration between Mullvad VPN and the Tor Project. It’s produced to minimize tracking and fingerprinting.
Mullvad VPN (mullvad.net)
