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Fingerprinting. Everything about you that isn't identical to everyone else can be combined to guess who you likely are. Your exact browser version, OS, support

by mabbo 3y ago

Fingerprinting. Everything about you that isn't identical to everyone else can be combined to guess who you likely are. Your exact browser version, OS, supported APIs, your IP address, your latency to Google servers... Anything that isn't a complete match to everyone else. You may have a new install, but your IP and latency match your old install. What are the odds you're not the same person? It's all probabilistic. But Google has a lot of incentive to get really good at making those guesses.

ghusto 3y ago
Probabilistic, to a staggeringly high certainty. I used to think "meh, how accurate could all that possibly be?". I now know it's close enough to 100% for the false positives to be negligible.
mort96 3y ago
But that's also a form of tracking. Are you saying it's a form of tracking which is exempt under the GDPR? Do you have a source on that?
- mabbo 3y ago
  I doubt it's allowed under gdpr, but it's also hard to prove it's being done. Much of it can be done server side based purely on IP address.
- IshKebab 3y ago
  It's not exempt but advertisers do it anyway.
papruapap 3y ago
Chrome stopped reporting chrome version because of this iirc.
hospitalJail 3y ago
Are we sure its Google? I have been fingerprinted on sites completely unrelated to serving Google Ads. Wait until the nsfw blackmail comes.
grepfru_it 3y ago
some additional methods to detect you - the websites you view. you may have a common 3-4 that you visit in a row, sometimes on autopilot. fingerprint. - the way you type and move your mouse. your cadence is unique, you have subtle changes in how you use your mouse. fingerprint.
NikkiA 3y ago
To be clear, they don't need to know you by name and address, if you're AnonymousUser#7820300195 they still get to know what you were browsing, what interests you, and what you're likely to click on. In fact, knowing your actual personal details is probably a liability they don't need.

by mabbo 3y ago

ghusto 3y ago

Probabilistic, to a staggeringly high certainty. I used to think "meh, how accurate could all that possibly be?". I now know it's close enough to 100% for the false positives to be negligible.

mort96 3y ago

But that's also a form of tracking. Are you saying it's a form of tracking which is exempt under the GDPR? Do you have a source on that?

mabbo 3y ago
I doubt it's allowed under gdpr, but it's also hard to prove it's being done. Much of it can be done server side based purely on IP address.
IshKebab 3y ago
It's not exempt but advertisers do it anyway.

papruapap 3y ago

Chrome stopped reporting chrome version because of this iirc.

hospitalJail 3y ago

Are we sure its Google? I have been fingerprinted on sites completely unrelated to serving Google Ads. Wait until the nsfw blackmail comes.

grepfru_it 3y ago

some additional methods to detect you - the websites you view. you may have a common 3-4 that you visit in a row, sometimes on autopilot. fingerprint. - the way you type and move your mouse. your cadence is unique, you have subtle changes in how you use your mouse. fingerprint.

NikkiA 3y ago

To be clear, they don't need to know you by name and address, if you're AnonymousUser#7820300195 they still get to know what you were browsing, what interests you, and what you're likely to click on. In fact, knowing your actual personal details is probably a liability they don't need.