The good folks at the EFF are running project Panopticlick — with the tagline “How unique — and trackable — is your browser”. Turns out browsers will reveal lots of information about your system, even with cookies turned off. E.g. your set of plugins (got shockwave?), your screen depth, your screen size, your system fonts, your time zone. The cross product of all of these things can result in a fingerprint that can possibly be quite rare. And if it’s rare, sites can collect this info and use it to track you in lieu of cookies.
You can go to the EFF site and test your browser fingerprint. The catch is they keep your data, but in an anonymous way. Turns out mine is … unique! Out of 140K browsers tested so far anyway. Hmmm, I’m running Windows 7, using Chrome, but I guess if you factor in EST timezone plus my particular set of plugins and my dual-screen large format displays then I’m the only one with such a rig. Makes sense I suppose, but it wouldn’t have been something I would have guessed at.
OK interesting and good to know, now I wonder what possible countermeasures exist. But not to worry too much, I don’t bother masking my IP so websites that care pretty much know who I am anyway.
Technorati Tags: browser fingerprint, panopticlick