What kind of information hides in your digital fingerprint?
Why do websites collect it, and how can you prevent that? Let's dive straight in.
Browser fingerprinting is a method of identifying website visitors via a collection of data points
about your device, internet connection, and software preferences. Think of it this way:
a traditional fingerprint consists of a bunch of aligned lines, right? Now let's imagine that
each line and curve is a specific data point. That would include things like:
your operating system type, your browser type, browser version, time zone, fonts,
browser extensions, language, battery level,
keyboard layout, OS language, user-agent, CPU class, navigator properties, screen dimensions
And much, much more. Together, all these data points form a digital fingerprint.
Naturally, you may ask: What do websites use these fingerprints for? A popular example
is cyber security. Websites can identify bots or malicious actors based on certain parameters
within a visitor's fingerprint. That way, they can prevent hacks, attacks, or other harmful activity.
But this goes beyond websites wanting to protect themselves.
Have you ever received an email about a suspicious login? Keeping track of
fingerprint details such as device type and time zone helps companies keep your accounts safe.
Another way browser fingerprinting benefits you is by making your web browsing experience
nice and smooth. That's done by looking at things like your device’s language
and automatically matching it to the website you're visiting.
Fingerprinting is also used by advertisers. The data your fingerprint reveals
helps to tailor ads specifically to your needs. For example,
by knowing the type of graphics card you have and your screen dimensions advertisers
can start showing you targeted ads when a new model of your computer comes out.
But what if you don't want your data to be sold to advertisers?
Apart from personal privacy, fingerprinting prevention is also very relevant for
businesses managing multiple social media accounts for their clients.
Platforms like Twitter and Instagram restrict the number of accounts created from one IP.
The catch tho is that even with changed IP, they can track you down and block you based on,
you guessed it - your fingerprint. So, is it possible to prevent browser fingerprinting?
Really the only way you can prevent browser fingerprinting is by disabling Javascript on
your device. This works since websites create your fingerprint by collecting data through Javascript.
So yes, by disabling Javascript, you can prevent fingerprinting. But by doing so, you'll also stop
pretty much all websites from working normally and make your browsing experience extremely painful.
However, there are ways you can increase your privacy without preventing fingerprinting
altogether. That is by making your fingerprint less unique. You see,
when it comes to digital profiling, the more basic you are, the better. So, how do you achieve this?
Well, first, use a popular browser. That would be Chrome or Safari. Also, things like atypical
fonts or unusual extensions make you stand out from the crowd. So try to minimize those.
But not all solutions to better online privacy require sacrifices. Understanding
fingerprinting reveals that there is more to online identification than just tracking down
your IP. That's why, if you want to hide yourself, you should use a combo of a VPN service and an
antidetect browser. VPNs give you a new IP address and can make it seem as if you're connecting from
a different country. Antidetect browsers change your fingerprint to a less unique one by spoofing
your browser information, hardware, and software settings. Wanna know the best antidetect browsers
out there? Then click that subscribe button as a video about that is coming your way.
This privacy combo is perfect for single use. However, if your needs are bigger, for example,
you manage multiple accounts on Facebook, just switch out VPN for a proxy service.
For more advice like this, check out our multiple social media accounts playlist.
See you in the next one!