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He does log the browser string. The EFF's panopticlick project shows that this is a way to identify a user surprisingly uniquely.
by whatismyip2 17y ago
He does log the browser string. The EFF's panopticlick project shows that this is a way to identify a user surprisingly uniquely.
- epi0Bauqu 17y agoWow, really? Any references? I'd consider ditching them. They're not doing much for me anyway.
- bensummers 17y agohttps://panopticlick.eff.org/ https://panopticlick.eff.org/
- epi0Bauqu 17y agoRight, that's tracking everything the browser outputs, not just the user agent, which is maybe 1% of the full string.
- bensummers 17y agoGiven that IE seems to include all the installed programs on your computer in the UA, I would have thought there's quite a lot of info. I've seen some really long IE UA strings, including all versions of .NET installed, InfoPath, random stuff for adding smilies to emails (really!), and so on. Combine that with a few other hints, and you've got something interesting. Maybe you could distill it to a very simple description, like IE6 or FF3.5? I wouldn't have thought you'd want to drop knowing which browsers your users are using.
- epi0Bauqu 17y agoGood idea. For the time being, I just turned user agents off. I have't really got much use out of knowing what browser's people are on anyway.
- whatismyip2 17y agoI did an experiment and turned off javascript and redid the test... it still is unique enough to track a browsing session. Give it a try. I would consider using Duck Duck Go if nothing was logged. Right now I use another service precisely because they don't log anything.
- epi0Bauqu 17y agoI just turned user agents off.
- whatismyip2 17y agoWow, now that's what I call customer service :-) Thanks for listening... I'll give it a try.
- aresant 17y agoMake sure to update your blog entry !
- mapleoin 17y agowhat other service? Is it scroogle?
- devinj 17y agoI believe cuil (hee hee) has advertised their lack of logging. http://www.cuil.com/info/privacy/ http://www.cuil.com/info/privacy/
- whatismyip2 17y agoyes
- m_eiman 17y agoIf you're only logging the info provided in the GET request you only have less than 20 "bits of identifying information". They also use some Javascript to collect additional information, which increases the available information quite a bit.
- Tichy 17y agoDitching them would probably identify as "the guy without browser identification strings".
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]