this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2025
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Technology

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Browser Fingerprinting And Why VPNs Won’t Make You Anonymous (hackaday.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by tonytins@pawb.social to c/technology@lemmy.world
100 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Amidst the glossy marketing for VPN services, it can be tempting to believe that the moment you flick on the VPN connection you can browse the internet with full privacy. Unfortunately this is quite far from the truth, as interacting with internet services like websites leaves a significant fingerprint. In a study by [RTINGS.com] this browser fingerprinting was investigated in detail, showing just how easy it is to uniquely identify a visitor across the 83 laptops used in the study.

As summarized in the related video (also embedded below), the start of the study involved the Am I Unique? website which provides you with an overview of your browser fingerprint. With over 4.5 million fingerprints in their database as of writing, even using Edge on Windows 10 marks you as unique, which is telling.

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[–] GreenShimada@lemmy.world 45 points 2 weeks ago (16 children)

It's always kind of funny when the Technology folks wade into well-researched and well-worn Privacy territory.

Do you want to not wave a giant flag of your activity to Google, Meta, MS, and your ISP when you do literally anything online? Either use a VPN and Mullvad (or Librewolf, but YMMV) browser, OR a VPN and Tor OR Tor with an https bridge if paying for a VPN will make you a target (Tor bridges are not for casuals, save them for those in genuine need).

VPN locations need to be changed. Frequently. Router level VPN at home becomes your "This is me" location, then make use of VPNs on each device when you want an extra layer of obfuscation.

There's not a lot of middle ground at this point, and it's not difficult.

[–] filister@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You also need to change the devices browsers, extensions and timezones to stay anonymous or buy a device and set the most common fingerprint settings, so it is harder for those companies to track you down. It is a slippery slope, and you can check your browser fingerprint and avoid adding unique settings, extensions or anything that can help them to track you.

[–] GreenShimada@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Most fingerprint resistant browsers set the time zone to UTC. Extensions should be limited to uBO as the extensions add to the fingerprint more than they hide you.

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