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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."
From TFA:
"There are some effective countermeasures, however. A uniquely identifiable IDG News Service Windows XP computer running Firefox could not be identified with the NoScript safe browsing extension turned on. Adding the Tor Internet anonymization software also works, Eckersley said."
For those who are interested
I don't care if anyone tracks my preferences or shopping history. What I care about is; 'Is that information "Personally Identifiable"?' In other words its not that they know what I do, its do they know, specifically, who I am.
I am all for research and marketing to tune products and advertising, but they don't need to know my name or various identifiers to do it.
"Waitress I need two more boat-drinks..."
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
All you have to do is change your fingerprint to "Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)". OK, perhaps this needs updating, but you get the general idea.
You'll be amazed at the information some sites will be willing to give you. Even paysites will let you in for free if they believe you are Google.
Excellent plan.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
We have a rather annoying vandal by the name of Grawp who likes to visit often and put penis pictures up on pages that little kids like to visit, among other things.
He edits via proxies, while visiting people, open wifi spots, etc... and never figures out how we know it's him.
Shame his laptop has the same fairly unique MSIE-and-toolbars useragent string.
true,
but you're still boned if you're the only furry in the office.
This article relates to the publishing of the *results* of the experiment announced in the first article. This is not (for once) a dup. Hence the "compiled over the past few months" bit in the summary.
The ringing of the division bell has begun... -PF
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.