3 ms·

No, they fingerprint the phone like browser fingerprinting. Unique settings, apps installed etc. Very hard to have a non-unique set up with enough data points

No, they fingerprint the phone like browser fingerprinting. Unique settings, apps installed etc. Very hard to have a non-unique set up with enough data points.

azinman2 10y ago
No? Did you work on this code and know for sure? Let's look at roughly what's available: iPhone model (2 orders of magnitude of possibilities) Device storage -- increases entropy with iPhone model but still not that much Device name -- easily changeable by scammer, so not enough iOS version -- changes over time, not great for a long term fingerprint but might help short term IP address -- short term attribution ok, but not against scammers. People in china have multiple sims very often so even relying on carrier isn't enough Cell phone carrier -- same as above Other apps installed -- as of iOS 9 you have to pre-declare what you want to be able to query, and that's subject to App Store review. It does help give a fair bit entropy. This also can change at any moment. But if you're wiping the device constantly, they might not be installing any apps. In advertising / web, you want to attribute across sites / installs on a short time basis. You have plugins and their unique version numbers, OS versions and all their attributes, browsers version, fonts installed, etc. Way more variation than iPhones. To defeat scammers erasing their phone constantly it's actually much harder, and likely needs something a bit more unique.
- stale2002 10y ago
  Each variable you mentioned is not unique, but put them all together and now you are talking. And then apply a heavy dose of statistics and machine learning on top of THAT. Especially since the behavior/activity of the phone could be suspicious as well. You also don't need to be 100% accurate all the time. The point is to minimize the damages done to you by scammers, not reduce it to 0 which is impossible.
pasiaj 10y ago
Doubt it. You can't use those methods to identify users if the phones are just being used to mine new accounts. I'd assume the miners just wipe a phone clean, reinstall Uber & create a new account. There are no special settings & variability in installed apps in that case.

No, they fingerprint the phone like browser fingerprinting. Unique settings, apps installed etc. Very hard to have a non-unique set up with enough data points.

azinman2 10y ago

No? Did you work on this code and know for sure? Let's look at roughly what's available: iPhone model (2 orders of magnitude of possibilities) Device storage -- increases entropy with iPhone model but still not that much Device name -- easily changeable by scammer, so not enough iOS version -- changes over time, not great for a long term fingerprint but might help short term IP address -- short term attribution ok, but not against scammers. People in china have multiple sims very often so even relying on carrier isn't enough Cell phone carrier -- same as above Other apps installed -- as of iOS 9 you have to pre-declare what you want to be able to query, and that's subject to App Store review. It does help give a fair bit entropy. This also can change at any moment. But if you're wiping the device constantly, they might not be installing any apps. In advertising / web, you want to attribute across sites / installs on a short time basis. You have plugins and their unique version numbers, OS versions and all their attributes, browsers version, fonts installed, etc. Way more variation than iPhones. To defeat scammers erasing their phone constantly it's actually much harder, and likely needs something a bit more unique.

stale2002 10y ago
Each variable you mentioned is not unique, but put them all together and now you are talking. And then apply a heavy dose of statistics and machine learning on top of THAT. Especially since the behavior/activity of the phone could be suspicious as well. You also don't need to be 100% accurate all the time. The point is to minimize the damages done to you by scammers, not reduce it to 0 which is impossible.

pasiaj 10y ago

Doubt it. You can't use those methods to identify users if the phones are just being used to mine new accounts. I'd assume the miners just wipe a phone clean, reinstall Uber & create a new account. There are no special settings & variability in installed apps in that case.