Just launched fingerprint.leonkohli.dev - a hands-on experiment with browser fingerprinting techniques. Built this to understand how websites can identify visitors through their unique browser characteristics. Check out the live demo and let me know your thoughts! Code is open source.
Yeah, that’s quite interesting. All Chrome-based browsers I have installed (Chrome, Edge, Vivaldi) have the same amount of bits, Firefox has slightly less but not by much. None of them are particularly configured for additional privacy besides running ad blockers. Firefox in Incognito mode has the lowest but also not by much, with Chrome’s incognito mode making no difference.
I’d imagine the ‘true’ result differs based on what fingerprinting methods are used, but this seems to at least give you some ideas on which browser might behave best in this regard.
If you included a toggle for ‘include IP address’, the two unique codes could be compared for more potential accuracy.
Blake said:
If you included a toggle for ‘include IP address’, the two unique codes could be compared for more potential accuracy.
Great idea, thanks for the input!
This is really good!
Blake said:
This is really good!
How is this really good? It’s shady at best, and most probably illegal in the EU. Tracking someone’s browser is a very unethical thing to do, especially without their knowledge.
@Mai
I don’t track anything using the fingerprint; it’s just a showcase of what’s possible using the browser APIs, etc.
@Mai
How so? It’s happening regardless; this way you can easily see what’s actually happening, specifically for you.
@Mai
I’m not sure if you’re being serious or really aren’t aware, but most big advertisers track you across the web using these techniques. Facebook, Google, etc., use these methods to uniquely identify you and track your behavior online. This is why if you search for something, you immediately start seeing ads for that thing everywhere. It’s completely legal and widely used (although I agree it’s unethical), but OP is not using this information for those purposes - they are presenting the data collected and trying to educate us.
@Mai
This is only showing what you’ve allowed the website to see. Yes, these signatures could be used to track, but if it really upsets you, you’d want to use a VPN and change your browsing configuration. Europe has already caused the annoying necessity for overhead with cookie pop-ups. Why don’t they have a pop-up for browser tracking and JavaScript?
This is delightful really. I’d be really grateful to learn which resources you’ve used to study up on the various fingerprinting techniques being used here. I’m aware of most of them but never looked into the details. Might even be helpful to have some supplemental documentation included in your demo!
That’s really cool. Does that also mean if I install a new font or a browser extension, my fingerprint changes?
Edit: Is Private Mode false, doesn’t work, just tried it in private.
Nice work! Slick design too.
The advice to ‘Consider using a VPN to mask your actual timezone information.’ is incorrect. Timezone info is derived from your computer settings, not your VPN. A VPN only modifies your IP address.
More similar sites for those interested:
Hmm, tried it and almost all information is wrong; it only got my browser right.
Lior said:
Hmm, tried it and almost all information is wrong; it only got my browser right.
The actual info being wrong doesn’t matter much. It’s if the combination of info is unique to you that matters.