4 ms·

ay's comment is great. You dodging my question? Not great. I have to ask, have you even visited panopticlick? Go visit, using the browser that you typically us

ay's comment is great. You dodging my question? Not great. I have to ask, have you even visited panopticlick? Go visit, using the browser that you typically use to browse the web. Slow your roll, and take time to actually understand what the site is telling you. Also: "I believe that if this start being used, browser vendors will crack down on this". You... are clearly not aware of what's happening in the Internet advertising space. Visit https://panopticlick.eff.org/ https://panopticlick.eff.org/ (I mean it. Do this. Don't just blow hot air.) and ask yourself which of those things that the browser has been happily giving away for ages could easily be removed without breaking much of the useful functionality of the web.

cm2187 12y ago
Well, I thought my comments did answer your question. - the fact that this signature works today (and I am not convinced it is actually so unique and stable to be really useful, again you don't have flash or java on iOS nor can you really customize the browser, so you will have lots of collisions) doesn't mean it will forever, for instance flash, java and silverlight are on their way out of the browser. And the more plugins and fonts you have, the more unique your signature is, the more likely it will change as a result of updating something (typically at least once a month) and therefore the less likely it will be useful to tracking you (your identity changes regularly). - the fact that there is a flaw already doesn't mean we should introduce another one. - IP protocol is evolving much more slowly than browsers and therefore a flaw in the IP protocol is a lot more problematic than a flaw in a current version of the browser.
- simoncion 12y ago
  If you're not convinced that browser fingerprinting is a useful tool in an advertiser's tracking toolkit, then you need to read what the EFF, lcamtuf, and other security researchers have to say. Or, you could just go work for a grey or black-hat internet advertiser. Also, do check out my reply in the other thread with you: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8282694 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8282694

cm2187 12y ago

Well, I thought my comments did answer your question. - the fact that this signature works today (and I am not convinced it is actually so unique and stable to be really useful, again you don't have flash or java on iOS nor can you really customize the browser, so you will have lots of collisions) doesn't mean it will forever, for instance flash, java and silverlight are on their way out of the browser. And the more plugins and fonts you have, the more unique your signature is, the more likely it will change as a result of updating something (typically at least once a month) and therefore the less likely it will be useful to tracking you (your identity changes regularly). - the fact that there is a flaw already doesn't mean we should introduce another one. - IP protocol is evolving much more slowly than browsers and therefore a flaw in the IP protocol is a lot more problematic than a flaw in a current version of the browser.

simoncion 12y ago
If you're not convinced that browser fingerprinting is a useful tool in an advertiser's tracking toolkit, then you need to read what the EFF, lcamtuf, and other security researchers have to say. Or, you could just go work for a grey or black-hat internet advertiser. Also, do check out my reply in the other thread with you: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8282694 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8282694