this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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Privacy

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What's the deal? I'm testing using https://coveryourtracks.eff.org Is it truly unique (and repeatable), or is it perhaps being randomized on every request?

I've tried normal Firefox, Mull, and IronFox. With and without jShelter.

I'm using my phone. Stock Android on a Pixel 7 Pro.

In DDG Browser I have a "nearly unique" fingerprint.

I installed CanvasBlocker and disabled privacy.resistFingerprinting in IronFox (since CanvasBlocker said to), and my fingerprint is still unique. I guess I'm not surprised since I think CanvasBlocker is designed to randomize canvas fingerprinting.

Any tips on having even a shred of privacy when browsing the web on Android?

#Update

The biggest identifying characteristics are screen size and user agent. User agent can be faked with an extension. I can't exactly change my screen size.

I don't know what exactly what I did, but I managed to improve to "nearly unique" in IronFox. I think all I did was install Cookie Autodelete. It's an extension I've used for a long time in Mull, and finally got around to installing it. Then I installed "User-agent Switcher" and chose a Chrome user-agent and now I'm back to "Unique". ๐Ÿค”

EFF mentioned Tor Browser having some other best anti-fingerprinting, so I tried installing that. "Unique Fingerprint". Again, maybe that's fine if it means it's randomized on every request. Does anyone know if that's the case? If part of the fingerprint is a hash of canvas data and WebGL data, etc. Then I can easily see your fingerprint being unique if a browser or an extension is intentionally fuzzing that data.

#Update 2

I tried Fennec with just jShelter, uBlock Origin, and Cookie AutoDelete (not that I think those last two matter).

Obtained a "randomized fingerprint" result. Success?

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[โ€“] muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah ik how easy it is i wrote an implementation just to see if i could. But i dont see why browsers cant just lie to websites about absolutly everything. Tell the browser u have fonts u dont u dont have those u dont. Fudge ur window size to a standard set. Put noise into webgl renders. Etc etc. The current approach is to make every device look the same i think the better approach is to make every request look completly different all the time.

"Tell a lie once and it's a lie, tell a lie a thousand times and it's a fact. And, when you tell a fact, mix it with a lie and people don't know what's true." - Joseph Stalin

If the trackers cant decern the truth from the lie they cant fingerprint.

[โ€“] dwindling7373@feddit.it 1 points 3 hours ago

Because then you get something that doesn't work on your browser.