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by freedomben 2727 days ago
This 100%. It will also make your web experience a lot better because so much of the javascript out there just does things you don't want anyway, such as loading ads and displaying popups.

If you are a web developer or are familiar with web terminology like origins, domains, frames, XHR, etc on the web, and are willing to put in some time learning how to use it (15 mins for a seasoned web dev, maybe 30-60 mins otherwise) get uMatrix (https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix). It will change your life! If not, use ScriptBlock on Chrome or NoScript on Firefox. Block all scripts (and if using uMatrix, cookies, XHR, and frames) by default and whitelist as you go for sites you trust (or want to use bad enough to potentially open yourself up for tracking).
2 comments
username223 2727 days ago
> so much of the javascript out there just does things you don't want

JavaScript developers should ask themselves if they want JS to become the popup of the 2010s: initially well-intentioned, shamelessly abused, universally loathed, and ultimately killed.

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bagsvaerd70 2727 days ago
Thanks. Care to share a uMatrix setup that reports a non-unique fingerprint on https://panopticlick.eff.org ?
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Drdrdrq 2727 days ago
I think the point is not that the core domain can't fingerprint you, it is that 3rd party JavaScript is blocked by default, which makes those domains less likely to track you. Not impossible, just less likely. For example there is almost never any reason to allow Google Analytics JS.
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freedomben 2727 days ago
Agreed. If you take the default uMatrix setup, change javascript to be disabled, then just whitelist as you go, you'll pass most of those tests and be pretty tracker-resistant.

My suspicion is that fingerprinting by the core domain will actually get worse since your browser behaves so differently from stock browsers (which is after all the point of uMatrix :-) ). The majority of trackers tho will be third party (such as Google analytics). Very few sites roll their own trackers because it's hard to get right, and some great ones like GA is free. For those that do, I'm not too worried anyway, but that's certainly just a personal thing.

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