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EFF Says Forget Cookies, Your Browser Has Fingerprints
alphadogg writes "Even without cookies, popular browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox give websites enough information to get a unique picture of their visitors about 94 percent of the time, according to research compiled over the past few months by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. [The Research] puts quantitative assessment on something that security gurus have known about for years, said Peter Eckersley, the EFF senior staff technologist who did the research. He found that configuration information — data on the type of browser, operating system, plugins, and even fonts installed — can be compiled by websites to create a unique portrait of most visitors. This means that most Internet users are a lot less anonymous than they believe, Eckersley said. 'Even if you turn off cookies and you use a proxy to hide your IP address, you could still be tracked,' he said."
I know that's a joke, but at work you likely experience greater anonymity than at home (from the website operator at least, can't say if your company monitors). At home, your computer is likely to have an eclectic mix of plugins, more or less up to date browser, OS, etc., all of which make you easy to profile. At work, you're often subject to the demands of the IT department, and the IT department likes uniformity; it's easier to support. So when you surf for porn at work, odds are the website can't distinguish you from anyone else at your office, since you all broadcast the same configuration data.
$_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
Thats where things get difficult, though, right? For the sake of arguement, lets say that Microsoft decided to embed a Unique User ID into everyone's internet explorer, so that anytime you browse the net your ID gets stamped everywhere you go. Makes it easier for adspace to trend towards your interests, right? But then you're also checking your facebook, your email, your bank account, logging into slashdot, and so on and so forth.
Eventually, one of these services slip, like Facebook has, and your Identifiable Information gets out in the open. When I google my name, I see my Facebook Profile, my name come up under my mothers friends list on Facebook, a handful of .NET Debugging forums. Even foreign versions of Facebook, in my classes we had people from the middle east, Japan, Hong Kong, and other regions of the world, and every other google page I see "Facebook: (Chinese Characters) (My Name) ". Makes me a little paranoid I'm being creeped by someone I don't know.
Regardless - my point is that any effort they make to track just your preferences will always lead back to some site that slips up and makes your identifiable information easier to find, should you put it anywhere online. The way things currently are, you are pretty much safe if you do your best to keep your anonymity online, is probably the best its ever going to get.
Except what's "wrong" is not well defined *now*, and it may even be worst in the future - and we have no idea for how long they'll keep those logs.
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Who really cares that their "browser fingerprint" is out there? Unless you're doing something wrong there's no reason to ever try to trace it back to a source.
And who defines what "wrong" is? In some places being gay is a crime. In some places being an apostate is a crime. In some places being anti-government is a crime. In some places playing violent video games, looking at porn of women with small breasts is a crime. In some places reading certain books is a crime.
Either you are ignorant, or you are trolling.
No one has a right to their *own* opinion. They have a right to the TRUTH.