{"id":123068,"date":"2022-08-08T08:51:55","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T12:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/?p=123068"},"modified":"2022-08-08T08:51:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T12:51:55","slug":"browser-privacy-fact-or-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/browser-privacy-fact-or-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Browser Privacy: Fact Or Fiction?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"daves-681924167\" class=\"daves-single-post-before-content\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div><p>The browser acts as an interface between the device and the world wide web and is one piece of software we simply cannot do without. Yet, in terms of privacy, the browser is also your most vulnerable piece of software. Many of you will have come across articles assessing which browser might be more private than another. Let me tell you something my friends&#8230; all browsers leak data like a sieve.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, some browsers provide slightly elevated levels of privacy but to say they are more private than [say] Chrome or Edge is akin to saying that three broken toes are better than four broken toes &#8211; yes, it&#8217;s a slight improvement but still far from ideal.<\/p>\n<h2>Browser Fingerprinting<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Browser-Fingerprinting.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-123111\" src=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Browser-Fingerprinting.png\" alt=\"Browser Fingerprinting\" width=\"633\" height=\"77\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Browser-Fingerprinting.png 633w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Browser-Fingerprinting-350x43.png 350w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Browser-Fingerprinting-150x18.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 633px) 100vw, 633px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>All browsers divulge multiple snippets of information including details of the browser, installed extensions, your hardware, and peripherals. Individually these snippets of information are meaningless but collectively they form a unique identifier or fingerprint. Once that fingerprint has been created it is all too easy to track the user&#8217;s activity across the wide world web. Browser fingerprinting is the privacy-conscious users&#8217; worst enemy.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to test your browser&#8217;s defense against fingerprinting, pop on over to <a href=\"https:\/\/coveryourtracks.eff.org\/learn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cover Your Tracks<\/a>, a website run by the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) and specifically designed to test a browser&#8217;s privacy. I checked four browsers at default settings with zero extensions &#8211; Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Brave &#8211; through <a href=\"https:\/\/coveryourtracks.eff.org\/learn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cover Your Tracks<\/a>:<\/p><div id=\"daves-3604029210\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Edge and Chrome Privacy<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Edge-CChrome-Fingerprinting-Result.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-123098\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Edge-CChrome-Fingerprinting-Result-640x114.png\" alt=\"Edge Chrome Fingerprinting Result\" width=\"640\" height=\"114\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Edge-CChrome-Fingerprinting-Result-640x114.png 640w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Edge-CChrome-Fingerprinting-Result-350x62.png 350w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Edge-CChrome-Fingerprinting-Result-150x27.png 150w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Edge-CChrome-Fingerprinting-Result.png 682w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>No surprise to see that both Edge and Chrome&#8217;s built-in privacy features are non-existent.<\/p>\n<h3>Firefox Privacy<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Firefox-Fingerprinting-Results.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-123100\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Firefox-Fingerprinting-Results-640x112.png\" alt=\"Firefox Fingerprinting Results\" width=\"640\" height=\"112\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Firefox-Fingerprinting-Results-640x112.png 640w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Firefox-Fingerprinting-Results-350x61.png 350w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Firefox-Fingerprinting-Results-150x26.png 150w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Firefox-Fingerprinting-Results.png 685w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, Firefox provides more privacy but remains far from &#8220;private&#8221;. NOTE: Mozilla is currently working on a feature to defeat fingerprinting. At the moment the feature is experimental and not terribly effective. However, future versions of Firefox should be more effective at defeating fingerprinting.<\/p>\n<h3>Brave Privacy<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Brave-Fingerprinting-Results.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-123101\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Brave-Fingerprinting-Results-640x105.png\" alt=\"Brave Fingerprinting Results\" width=\"640\" height=\"105\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Brave-Fingerprinting-Results-640x105.png 640w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Brave-Fingerprinting-Results-350x57.png 350w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Brave-Fingerprinting-Results-150x25.png 150w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Brave-Fingerprinting-Results.png 753w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A randomized fingerprint&#8221; is the ideal method to defeat browser fingerprinting. It&#8217;s easy to deduce from these results that <strong>Brave is clearly the most Private Browser out of the box<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>That said, there is more to a browser than privacy. In Brave&#8217;s case, I am still concerned over the incident when the browser was caught out redirecting users through affiliate links for certain search queries. Sure, Brendan Eich (Brave&#8217;s CEO) apologized but, in my opinion, the apology came merely because Brave broke the eleventh commandment &#8211; <em>thou shalt not get caught<\/em>. Browser redirects are generally regarded as a form of malware and, in this case, earned additional revenue for Brave. Nobody will ever convince me that the redirect code was inserted into Brave &#8220;accidentally&#8221;. To me, this whole incident raises &#8220;trust&#8221; issues.<\/p><div id=\"daves-375617681\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content-2\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Which Browser Is Best For You?<\/h2>\n<p>In all honesty, regardless of privacy, go with the browser that suits you best. I&#8217;m not suggesting for one minute that browser privacy should not be a consideration but there are steps you can take to harden a browser&#8217;s privacy:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Keep installed extensions to a minimum<\/strong>: Extensions play a large role in creating a unique fingerprint. The more extensions you install, the more unique your fingerprint becomes<\/li>\n<li><strong>Install an anti-tracking extension<\/strong>: There are several very good anti-tracking extensions available &#8211; notably <a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/4-must-have-extensions-for-edge\/\">Privacy Badger<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/ublockorigin.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">uBlock Origin<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Use a Privacy-Focused Search Engine<\/strong>: Opt for a privacy-focused search engine such as <a href=\"https:\/\/duckduckgo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DuckDuckGo<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.startpage.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Startpage<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>SPECIAL MENTIONS<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><strong>VPNs<\/strong>: Connecting via a VPN will hide your real IP address but all other data constituting your unique browser fingerprint is still readily available. VPNs are good for obfuscating your location but when it comes to defeating fingerprinting, not overly effective.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Privacy Modes<\/strong>: All browsers include an enhanced privacy mode. In Edge it&#8217;s called &#8220;InPrivate&#8221;, in Chrome it&#8217;s &#8220;Incognito&#8221;, and in Firefox it&#8217;s &#8220;Private Window&#8221;. These privacy modes do not elevate privacy to any notable degree. They will certainly not prevent browser fingerprinting although they can help mitigate the unique nature of the fingerprint.<\/p><div id=\"daves-4011888169\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content-3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Anti-Fingerprinting Extensions<\/strong>: I tested two browser extensions that claim to defeat fingerprinting, but neither lived up to their claims. Bottom line, anti-fingerprinting extensions are more likely to add to the uniqueness of the fingerprint rather than diminish it.<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, all browsers will eventually include a practical anti-fingerprinting feature. Brave already does, Mozilla is working on it, and Microsoft and Google will probably be forced to follow suit once the others have implemented it. We live in hope!<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<div id=\"daves-618205371\" class=\"daves-after-content\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"3225321574\" \ndata-ad-format=\"autorelaxed\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The browser acts as an interface between the device and the world wide web and is one piece of software we simply cannot do without. Yet, in terms of privacy, the browser is also your most vulnerable piece of software. Many of you will have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[11335,127,332],"class_list":["post-123068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-browser","tag-fingerprinting","tag-privacy","tag-tracking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}