Tech Blog

[#1]

An interesting news release by the Electroinc Frontier Foundation last week shows that anonymous web surfing may not be as anonymous as previously thought.

Due to each browser's unique characteristics and configuration (fonts available, screen size, IP related information etc) it seems that many browsers create a unique 'fingerprint' that can be used to track you as you surf the Internet:

The findings were the result of an experiment EFF conducted with volunteers who visited http://panopticlick.eff.org/ . The website anonymously logged the configuration and version information from each participant's operating system, browser, and browser plug-ins -- information that websites routinely access each time you visit -- and compared that information to a database of configurations collected from almost a million other visitors. EFF found that 84% of the configuration combinations were unique and identifiable, creating unique and identifiable browser "fingerprints." Browsers with Adobe Flash or Java plug-ins installed were 94% unique and trackable.

"We took measures to keep participants in our experiment anonymous, but most sites don't do that," said EFF Senior Staff Technologist Peter Eckersley. "In fact, several companies are already selling products that claim to use browser fingerprinting to help websites identify users and their online activities. This experiment is an important reality check, showing just how powerful these tracking mechanisms are."

So, is anonymous browsing dead? Given the fact that in order to actually function in a convenient and useful way, browsers must have many of these features enabled..yet it's these features that are potentially creating privacy and security issues.

"Browser fingerprinting is a powerful technique, and fingerprints must be considered alongside cookies and IP addresses when we discuss web privacy and user trackability," said Eckersley. "We hope that browser developers will work to reduce these privacy risks in future versions of their code."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation will be presenting the complete paper later this summer, but if you follow this link, you can check out the news release and some additional resources on browser and behavioural tracking.

Or is this just much to do about nothing, since it seems we can't do anything about it anyway? Do you really care if marketers, businesses, or even intelligence agencies can track your online activity?

Actually, I do, but I'm curious about you...leave your thoughts in the comments, and yes, you can post anonymously if you like