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by psacawa
1180 days ago
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Before you get all jubilant, note that they have fingerprinting techniques which don't use JS[0]. It was able to identity me. Contrary to popular opinion, disabling JS doesn't protect you from fingerprinting. They describe their approach[1]. They use HTTP headers and conditional request triggered by CSS conditional media queries to gather data. Something like @media(...) {background: url(/tracking/$clientid)}. But in principle, they could also try and fingerprint the TCP/IP stack or the TLS implementation. I'm not sure it would get them more data than OS+Browser, though. [0] https://noscriptfingerprint.com/ [1] https://fingerprint.com/blog/disabling-javascript-wont-stop-... |
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I didn't detail every protection I've put in place or the post would have been too long. However, I'd suggest that spreading my browsing over at least eight browsers (and I actually use more than two machines and do so at different locations and with different ISPs) effectively reduces my profile across the net.
I also use randomized browser user agents and clean links, occasionally I'll even cut-and-paste links between multiple browsers in a single session. I often do this on HN not to hide from HN but for convenience when multitasking. (Having worked in surveillance professionally, this modus operandi just comes naturally, it's now second nature for me to work this way.)
Working with multiple browsers and multiple machines also solves the problem when on rare occasions I have to use JS. That said, I never watch YouTube with a JS-enabled browser, instead I'll use NewPipe or similar. There are other measures I could list but you get the idea. Oh, and I never use the internet on a smartphone with a SIM enabled, instead the SIM resides in a separate portable router and my 'real' phone is a dumb feature phone, it's only capable of making phone calls.
I really don't care if some stuff leaks but I've satisfied myself it's pretty trivial, as frankly, I've not had one indication over the past 20 or so years that I've been targeted as a result of fingerprinting. It's not necessary to make things completely watertight, I'm not trying to hide from the NSA or GCHQ, etc. (and it'd be unsuccessful and a complete waste of time to bother trying).
Moreover, even if something were to leak, I'm simply not a revenue-making target—that means I never respond to any targeted marketing because I simply never receive any.