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Test browser for web tracking – EFF

coveryourtracks.eff.org

1–10 of 25 posts

Re: Test browser for web tracking – EFF

#3
TIL about a combination of supposedly innocuous, non-unique information my browser is sending out which, _in combination_, may identify me uniquely, or close-to-uniquely.

My test results say:

> Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the 187,426 tested in the past 45 days. > > Currently, we estimate that your browser has a fingerprint that conveys at least 17.52 bits of identifying information.

... and that's _at least_. It might be double that or more if all the information I'm sending out is orthogonal.

Re: Test browser for web tracking – EFF

#4

TIL about a combination of supposedly innocuous, non-unique information my browser is sending out which, _in combination_, may identify me uniquely, or close-to-uniquely. My test results say: > Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the 187,426 tested in the past 45 days. > > Currently, we estimate that your browser has a fingerprint that conveys at least 17.52 bits of identifying information. ... and th…

"Bits of identifying information: 4.37"

"Our tests indicate that you have strong protection against Web tracking."

Thank jeebus. If all of my effort of setting the preferences to block everything and running uBO showed as anything else, I'd be depressed more than pissed.

Re: Test browser for web tracking – EFF

#5

TIL about a combination of supposedly innocuous, non-unique information my browser is sending out which, _in combination_, may identify me uniquely, or close-to-uniquely. My test results say: > Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the 187,426 tested in the past 45 days. > > Currently, we estimate that your browser has a fingerprint that conveys at least 17.52 bits of identifying information. ... and th…

I've long since given up trying to remove the fingerprint completely, best I can do is limit it and just add noise where they (hopefully) don't expect it.

Re: Test browser for web tracking – EFF

#6
It's scary how much information browsers give out for free, I wish I could use a browser that completely blocks and limits fingerprinting but nowadays I can barely watch YouTube or completing an online purchase flow with ad-blockers enabled

Re: Test browser for web tracking – EFF

#7

TIL about a combination of supposedly innocuous, non-unique information my browser is sending out which, _in combination_, may identify me uniquely, or close-to-uniquely. My test results say: > Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the 187,426 tested in the past 45 days. > > Currently, we estimate that your browser has a fingerprint that conveys at least 17.52 bits of identifying information. ... and th…

I’m not sure I agree with the calculation. Basically they use each variable as independent when they are by nature not - as in if you have iPhone in the headers, you’ll probably have certain ram and gpu hashes. So those aren’t necessarily fully independent bits of info.

Re: Test browser for web tracking – EFF

#9

TIL about a combination of supposedly innocuous, non-unique information my browser is sending out which, _in combination_, may identify me uniquely, or close-to-uniquely. My test results say: > Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the 187,426 tested in the past 45 days. > > Currently, we estimate that your browser has a fingerprint that conveys at least 17.52 bits of identifying information. ... and th…

I’m not sure I agree with the calculation. Basically they use each variable as independent when they are by nature not - as in if you have iPhone in the headers, you’ll probably have certain ram and gpu hashes. So those aren’t necessarily fully independent bits of info.

Oh, no, they treat the variables as fully dependent. That's why they take the maximum over the fields, not the sum nor some kind of \Prod_i(1-p_i) - type thing.

Re: Test browser for web tracking – EFF

#10
post #6

It's scary how much information browsers give out for free, I wish I could use a browser that completely blocks and limits fingerprinting but nowadays I can barely watch YouTube or completing an online purchase flow with ad-blockers enabled

I know what you mean. One thing I'm trying to get into the habit of doing is using yt-dlp to pull videos from YouTube so I don't have to use their website, and I have _YT premium_ ffs -- it's just nasty.
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