Nowadays, fingerprinting is available for set-up on most websites, but device fingerprinting also threatens the privacy of every user across the Internet.Īdvertising companies and online merchants are the biggest players in this game. Initially, the browser fingerprinting technique was developed for banks and supposed to serve as an online fraud prevention measure by detecting suspicious behavior of individuals. Uses of browser fingerprinting range from constructive to destructive. Are there any good uses for browser-fingerprinting? It’s a win for computer science, but its a huge blow to online privacy.
isTargetBlank> The newly developed method, cross-browser fingerprinting, is sophisticated enough to identify and track users across multiple browsers and more accurately than ever before – 99,2 % of users were successfully fingerprinted by this new technique. Switching between two or more different browsers would have ruined the “fingerprint” algorithm or impede tracking. What's more, until recently, device fingerprinting worked under the assumption that a person is using the same single browser all the time. No wonder it's been called the: “cookieless monster”. It actually goes far beyond – the fingerprinting technology relies on JavaScript rather than cookies to collect data and is able to track users’ activity even when cookies are disabled. So what if privacy-concerned users deleted their browser cookies on a regular basis to prevent giving up their data for websites? Device fingerprinting doesn't work that way.
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Simply speaking, every website you visit, every product you view, TV shows you stream, news you read and basically every other move you make on the Internet leaves a trace, building up a detailed profile around your interests. Once you’re fingerprinted, it gets even easier for third parties to gather more information about you from your behavior online. It's unlikely anyone will be using a browser identically customized to yours, so it really is your unique online “fingerprint”. The “fingerprint” includes screen resolution, supported fonts, timezone, operating system, browser version, plug-ins installed and other specs, building up a unique set, which is compared to other users’. Device fingerprinting, also known as browser fingerprinting, is used to identify individual users by collecting information about their browser settings and system configuration.