Preventing browser fingerprinting entirely is difficult, because the technology can use so many different pieces of information about your system to create a unique ID. When we visited GoLogin's (opens in new tab) site, it didn't just collect and display details on our setup, it also detected our VPN use, warning: 'looks like you are spoofing your location.' Although VPNs can deliver real benefits in many areas, this shows sites may be able to recognize that you’re using them, and that in itself could make you stand out from the crowd. Some fingerprinting techniques are so smart that they can detect when you're trying to bypass them. And once again, we were, with the site saying our fingerprint was unique out of the 561,688 in its database.īrowserLeaks (opens in new tab) has a detailed page on canvas fingerprinting, including a graphic showing how the same text may vary on different systems, and surprisingly simple JavaScript code showing exactly how it’s done. Like Cover My Tracks, it'll also tell you if you're vulnerable to being tracked. This claimed our browser fingerprint was unique 'among the 217,097 tested in the past 45 days', showing fingerprinting could be used to effectively track our browser online.įree online tools like GoLogin (opens in new tab) can help you see if you're being fingerprinted (Image credit: ) (opens in new tab)Īm I Unique (opens in new tab) collects and displays many more fingerprinting details, handy to show just what the technology can do. Look for the site's 'Protecting you from fingerprinting?' verdict at the top of the page. Visit the site, click Test Your Browser, and within a few seconds it'll show you the various details that make up your fingerprint and explain what they mean. Just visit a fingerprint testing site or two and you'll quickly get a feel for how it works, and how effective it can be.Ĭover Your Tracks (opens in new tab) is a free service run by the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation. How can I test browser fingerprinting?īrowser fingerprinting can seem complicated, but you don't have to be an expert to understand the key details. None of these will necessarily identify you precisely, but put enough of them together and it's likely you'll have a unique (and very trackable) browser fingerprint. Similar technologies include WebGL tracking (more graphics trickery) and Audiocontext, where a tracker plays a tiny sound sample and measures the results. This may vary depending on your graphics card, firmware, operating system, drivers and more, and we've seen it claimed that canvas fingerprinting can help identify users with a 99.5% probability. whose preferred language is US English and is in the PST time zone and has cookies disabled and is running Windows, on a device with 8 browser cores, 16GB RAM and a 1920x1060 screen size and uses a certain graphics card and driver and has these specific system fonts installed.' It's likely there will be others with the same fingerprint as you, but not 'countless millions' any more, and employing more advanced techniques can get even closer to delivering a unique ID.Ĭanvas fingerprinting, for instance, sees the tracker draw a complex pattern of shapes, colors and text (invisible to the user), then do a pixel-level analysis of the result. The problem is websites don't just see you as 'a visitor using Chrome.' Some well-chosen JavaScripts allow them to detect a host of details about your system, and these make you far more identifiable.įor example, after collecting your details, a website might go beyond identifying you as ‘a visitor using Chrome’ to see you as 'a visitor using Chrome. ![]() If you're using Chrome, for example, then you're one of countless millions, and it's tempting to think you'll appear to be one of the crowd. Visit a website and it's easy to think your device looks much like any other. (Image credit: Image Credit: ar130405 / Pixabay) How browser fingerprinting works
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