Digital Fingerprint

[osprey]

Has anyone seen the story from earlier today regarding digital fingerprint/online tracting technology being developed by a company in CA? There was an article on the WSJ site this morning. The company was called BlueCava.

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

Sorry sir must have missed it. Did someone take it down since then?

[osprey]

Sorry, I should have posted the link.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704679204575646704100959546.html?m od=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories#articleTabs%3Darticle

[vacuum]

Interesting article

[Twisted Titan]

It's tough even for sophisticated Web surfers to tell if their gear is being fingerprinted. Even if people modify their machines—adding or deleting fonts, or updating software—fingerprinters often can still recognize them. There's not yet a way for people to delete fingerprints that have been collected. In short, fingerprinting is largely invisible, tough to fend off and semi-permanent


Interesting indeed.


T

[Ares]

There's not yet a way for people to delete fingerprints that have been collected. In short, fingerprinting is largely invisible, tough to fend off and semi-permanent



BULLSH*T!!!! They are most likely using MAC address for tracking. That's the ONLY constant with networked equipment and each one is unique. Good thing you can spoof your MAC address (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_spoofing) with certain adapters.

[Ponce]

This crap scares the hell out of me, not because what I read but because of what I can feel behind the read... someday you will be monitored 24/7 but for when you go to bed or go to the bathroom, I am glad to be old and will probably not live in that kind of a world.......all they have to do is placed an antenna in your head in order for you to become a living robot...........but..........the bottom line will be same one that we now have "Obey and you will be free".

[osprey]

Ponce,
It is very disturbing. I'm not tech savvy enough to know if there is a way to defeat this, but am digging around to see if there is a way. I did find an article from Webmonkey from early this year about this so I guess they have been working on it for a while.

http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/01/eff_reveals_how_your_digital_fingerprint_makes_you _easy_to_track/

[Joe King]

My question is, why does my computer need to send details about fonts and all the software I have installed just so I can see an html file?

AFAIC, all that should be sent is a request for data and an IP# to send that data to.


There has to be some way of blocking the "hundreds of parameters" that they say they use.
....or probably soon will be. Hopefully.

[DMac]

Interesting article, but nothing new there. Since day one of the internet, nearly all web servers have recorded, per every request sent to the server, your source IP, the IP destination, the computer OS you run and the browser version you have (any addons or malware). Some also log the specific cookie information. All sites do this as a part of how they work.

I have been using programs that analyze and trend this sort of data for years. It is inevitable that mammoth sites like ebay, amazon or cnn isn't doing the same with much more sophisticated applications.

The more security lax you are (java enabled, activeX enabled, flash, allow all cookies), the more vulnerable you are - this is the herd of white sheep. Those that start to employ security conscious methods are the black sheep. Black sheep are easier to see than the white sheep when looking at the herd. If you are a black sheep, you need to be extra careful in what and how you try to cover your tracks. Attempting to cover your tracks can end up making you more prone to being tracked. "One often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it" applies.

I would estimate that less than 1% of computer users are savvy enough to cover their tracks successfully in the virtual world.

There is no such thing as pure anonymity. In the technical world this is just how it is.



Ares,

MAC address tracking isn't possible unless you are on the same network. Routers block the ARP (address resolution protocol) by default - it's part of the purpose of the device.

In a nutshell, ARP is layer 2 of the OSI while stuff on the internet (routable) exists on layer 3 and up.

[mick silver]

i use sand paper to remove all finger prints

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

I use Lye, tis faster.

[Uncle Salty]

i use sand paper to remove all finger prints


WD 40 for me. It dissolves the proteins and DNA as well.