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Deleting redirect cookies is a wonderful step forward in improving privacy. I'm now concerned that companies would attempt to circumvent this by profiling user

by mataug 6y ago

Deleting redirect cookies is a wonderful step forward in improving privacy. I'm now concerned that companies would attempt to circumvent this by profiling users via fingerprinting through canvas, screen resolution, user agent and other means. I wonder how such profiling can be minimized / eliminated ?

mey 6y ago
Fingerprinting is already happening
floatingatoll 6y ago
As of January [1], it looks like Firefox enabled fingerprinting protection by default. Expert users may have overridden settings in various ways that could prevent those protections from being active. To verify, at Preferences > Privacy > Tracking Protection (about:preferences#privacy), make sure you've selected an option that includes Fingerprinting protection. [1] https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/how-to-block-fingerprinting-with-firefox/ https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/how-to-block-fingerprinting...
- draebek 6y ago
  Note that I think this blocking is done not by detecting a site doing it, but instead by using block lists: Firefox has a list of sites where third-party resources, including JS that would do canvas fingerprinting, will be blocked. As I understand it, this is different from the various "resistFingerprinting" ("RFP") settings in about:config, which will work on every site (and are notorious for breaking things). Ditto CanvasBlocker, which AFAIK runs on every site. I got this info from one of the links in the informative post you cited: https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2020/01/07/firefox-72-fingerprinting/ https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2020/01/07/firefox-72-fing...
  - floatingatoll 6y ago
    Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t enable resistFingerprinting for anyone I’m responsible for providing tech support to! If y’all want to experiment with it, go ahead, but be prepared to be angry at your browser and/or websites as things mysteriously break without explanation.
encom 6y ago
I've disabled canvas for all sites. I don't notice a lot of breakage, so it seems it's primarily used for fingerprinting. The only place I've whitelisted is Youtube, because of course Google is spying on you, and won't let you watch Youtube unless you allow them.
- boogies 6y ago
  > course Google is spying on you, and won't let you watch Youtube unless you allow them Or circumvent their restrictions with eg. Invidious or youtube-dl

by mataug 6y ago

mey 6y ago

Fingerprinting is already happening

floatingatoll 6y ago

As of January [1], it looks like Firefox enabled fingerprinting protection by default. Expert users may have overridden settings in various ways that could prevent those protections from being active. To verify, at Preferences > Privacy > Tracking Protection (about:preferences#privacy), make sure you've selected an option that includes Fingerprinting protection. [1] https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/how-to-block-fingerprinting-with-firefox/ https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/how-to-block-fingerprinting...

draebek 6y ago
Note that I think this blocking is done not by detecting a site doing it, but instead by using block lists: Firefox has a list of sites where third-party resources, including JS that would do canvas fingerprinting, will be blocked. As I understand it, this is different from the various "resistFingerprinting" ("RFP") settings in about:config, which will work on every site (and are notorious for breaking things). Ditto CanvasBlocker, which AFAIK runs on every site. I got this info from one of the links in the informative post you cited: https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2020/01/07/firefox-72-fingerprinting/ https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2020/01/07/firefox-72-fing...
- floatingatoll 6y ago
  Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t enable resistFingerprinting for anyone I’m responsible for providing tech support to! If y’all want to experiment with it, go ahead, but be prepared to be angry at your browser and/or websites as things mysteriously break without explanation.

encom 6y ago

I've disabled canvas for all sites. I don't notice a lot of breakage, so it seems it's primarily used for fingerprinting. The only place I've whitelisted is Youtube, because of course Google is spying on you, and won't let you watch Youtube unless you allow them.

boogies 6y ago
> course Google is spying on you, and won't let you watch Youtube unless you allow them Or circumvent their restrictions with eg. Invidious or youtube-dl