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> This is not true of any web browser because of fingerprinting. Some browsers, like the one you should be using, have anti-fingerprinting tech in them.

samtheprogram 1y ago
You didn’t finish my comment. Read the last sentence. Anti-fingerprinting tech just produces a different fingerprint. Google knows e.g. when things are scrambled but certain other things stay the same.
- tojumpship 1y ago
  Untrue, you can modify it enough to avoid giving it more entropy. Possible approaches include: - Spoofing browsers down to the TCP stack - Plausibily random values - Every possible bit scrambled on each request You can see a similar thought-process behind Tor bridges so it is tried-and-tested. Noted that it is a much more difficult feat to accomplish in a full blown browser rather than network layer.
jeroenhd 1y ago
Anti fingerprinting is nice but if you get served ads based on your IP address you're going to need more than just a browser to escape tracking based advertising. Adblockers aren't good enough when websites you visit use first-party servers to forward data back to ad networks.
- akimbostrawman 1y ago
  Mullvad Browser comes with the fingerprint protection of the tor browser and a VPN addon but you do need to pay for there vpn.
- jazzypants 1y ago
  Serving ads based on IP seems foolish when very, very few people have a static IP. I'm sure that a healthy minority of folks on HN do, but we're hardly representative of the general population.
  - pixl97 1y ago
    Your IP is a lot more static than you give it credit for. It's not like the dialup era where you get a new IP each time. For example I have a dynamic IP on my cable modem, but it might as well be static as it only changes after there is a long term power outage. Also, it's likely if you're on a home connection most often, then you only have a limited pool of 32k or so IPs, which dramatically lowers the bits of information needed to identify you.
    - immibis 1y ago
      European ISPs (at least some) change your IP every day, including IPv6, unless you opt out from the router's configuration page, as a privacy feature. Apparently tracking data of Europeans has a much higher market price.

samtheprogram 1y ago

You didn’t finish my comment. Read the last sentence. Anti-fingerprinting tech just produces a different fingerprint. Google knows e.g. when things are scrambled but certain other things stay the same.

tojumpship 1y ago
Untrue, you can modify it enough to avoid giving it more entropy. Possible approaches include: - Spoofing browsers down to the TCP stack - Plausibily random values - Every possible bit scrambled on each request You can see a similar thought-process behind Tor bridges so it is tried-and-tested. Noted that it is a much more difficult feat to accomplish in a full blown browser rather than network layer.

jeroenhd 1y ago

Anti fingerprinting is nice but if you get served ads based on your IP address you're going to need more than just a browser to escape tracking based advertising. Adblockers aren't good enough when websites you visit use first-party servers to forward data back to ad networks.

akimbostrawman 1y ago
Mullvad Browser comes with the fingerprint protection of the tor browser and a VPN addon but you do need to pay for there vpn.
jazzypants 1y ago
Serving ads based on IP seems foolish when very, very few people have a static IP. I'm sure that a healthy minority of folks on HN do, but we're hardly representative of the general population.
- pixl97 1y ago
  Your IP is a lot more static than you give it credit for. It's not like the dialup era where you get a new IP each time. For example I have a dynamic IP on my cable modem, but it might as well be static as it only changes after there is a long term power outage. Also, it's likely if you're on a home connection most often, then you only have a limited pool of 32k or so IPs, which dramatically lowers the bits of information needed to identify you.
  - immibis 1y ago
    European ISPs (at least some) change your IP every day, including IPv6, unless you opt out from the router's configuration page, as a privacy feature. Apparently tracking data of Europeans has a much higher market price.