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The Sneaky Way Web Browsers Are Identifying You (Even When You Turn Off Cookies)
- Browser fingerprinting, not to be confused with cookies, is a method of canvasing various metrics about your browsing session to build an “image” of your activity.
- Browser fingerprints are unique and are built over time from the activities you perform and the locations you visit on the web.
- Browser fingerprints are collected in the background, mostly using a small piece of JavaScript, scanning all available browser and system parameters to create an image of you and your behaviors.
- Fingerprinting has exploded in popularity due to its use in advertising and marketing, and is present on over a quarter of the Alexa Top 10,000 websites.
- Unlike cookies, which need consent and can be blocked or deleted, fingerprints are invisible and track you silently.
- Fingerprints use your hardware and browsing patterns, making them more persistent and harder to avoid than cookies, as they collect data passively.
- Browser fingerprinting raises significant ethical concerns due to its covert and invasive nature, raising issues of privacy, transparency and discrimination.
- Anti-detect browsers are designed to randomise or mask the unique signatures that fingerprinting tools rely on.
- Privacy-focused tools like Privacy Badger, Ghostery, or uBlock Origin can also play a key role in preventing fingerprinting.
- Browser fingerprinting is legal in many territories and is used within the boundaries of existing digital laws.
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