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 quit…

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.

  • WolfLink@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    14·
    12 hours ago

    Your ISP can’t tell who you are contacting if you are using a VPN, but websites will track you by other means.

    • The Velour Fog @lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      10 hours ago

      Ok, cool. It was mainly my ISP I was worried about.

      Would be useful for me to find a browser that obfuscated fingerprinting efforts too though.

      • limerod@reddthat.comEnglish
        3·
        8 hours ago

        If you use addons like Ublock-origin. You can reduce the fingerprinting. You can also disable 3rd party iframes, disable Javascript which can further reduce the data being sent to websites.