Web User - UK (2019-12-11)

64 11 -26December 2019

Hideyour browserinthe

crowd

Fingerprinting,whichisusedtoidentify

andtrackyou,reliesonyourcomputer

andbrowserbeinguniqueinsomeway

(likeyourfingerprint).Tofoilthesystem,

trytobemorelikeeveryoneelse soyou

canhideinthecrowd.

Forexample,thereareprobably a

billion Chromeusers,butfewpeople

useSlimBrowser,Maxthon,Torchand

others.Anunusualbrowserwon’t

uniquelyidentifyyoubut,when

combinedwith otherfactors,itcertainly

makesthejobaloteasier.

Browsersneedtoknowwhichfonts

areinstalledonyourcomputersothey

candisplaywebpages,and anunusual

fontcollectionmakesyoueasiertospot.

Limitingyourself totheWindows

defaultfonts,oratleastrestrictingany

extrastocommonlyusedalternatives,

makesyoulessconspicuous.

Browsingthewebonasuper-sharp

4Kmonitor undoubtedlyenhancesyour

enjoymentofwebsites,butanunusual

screenresolutionsetsyouapartfrom

otherpeople.Acommonresolution,

suchas1,920x1,080pixels,doesa

muchbetterjobofhidingyouridentity.

Browserextensions alsomakeyou

stand outandasitemaylookatwhich

onesyouhaveinstalled.Usingasmall

numberofpopularextensionsand

avoidingthosewithfewusersmakes

youlessvisible. Ironically,abrowser’s

DoNotTracksettingandwhether

cookiesareallowedorblockedalso

addtothepicturebuiltbytrackersto

uniquelyidentifyyou.

A

reyouworriedthatyourbrowserisleaking

informationthatletswebsitestrackyou?

Fearfulthatwebservicesare‘fingerprinting’

yourcomputerormobiledevicetoworkout whoyou

are?Well,youshouldbe!

Tofind outforsure,openabrowserand gotothe

ElectronicFrontierFoundation’swebsiteat

panopticlick.eff.organdrunthetest.Tomakeit

harder, openanincognitoorprivatebrowserwindow.

Thestandardtrackingresultsareshownfirstbut,to

getthefull alarmingpicture,click‘Showfullresults

forfingerprinting’belowthetabletoseewhatthesite

cantellaboutyou.Youcanbetrackedif it says“Your

browserfingerprintappearstobeunique”.

Belowthis,you’ll seethesystemsettingsthatmake

upyourfingerprint, suchasfonts,screenresolution,

extensionsandsoon.Agoodalternativetestcanbe

foundatAmIUnique (amiunique.org).

Checkyourbrowser’s fingerprint

Usebasicprivacy tools
Thequickestandeasiestwaytoincrease
yourprivacyistobrowsethewebusing
anincognitoorprivatewindow.This
won’tmakeyouinvisibleor preventyou
frombeingtracked,butit hidessome
specificinformationandeffectivelyacts
asif you’dclearedyourbrowserof
caches,historyandcookies.
Youcanseethisdemonstratedwhen
youvisit awebsite youneedtologinto,
suchasOneDriveorNetflix.You’re
askedtologinbeforeanywebsite
contentisdisplayed–thesitewon’t
knowyouuntilyouenteryourdetails.
Websitesthatusefingerprintingwill
stillbe abletoidentifyyou,but
incognitoorprivatebrowsingisstill
moreprivatethan standardbrowsing.

Seeifyourweb browser’s fingerp rintis unique andcan be tracked

Forbasichassle-free privacy, use
incognitoorprivate browsing modes

Fingerprinting uses all sortsofitems to

identify you, incl uding your extensions

If yousee wordsthatlooklike

they’ve been typed in a

typewriter,followthe instructions

and type themexactly asthey

appear,paying closeattentionto

spaces andpunctuation.

Web User Masterclass

Boostweb privacybyblocking

fingerprinting and tracking