Posted on 07/21/2014 4:55:16 PM PDT by Theoria
A new kind of tracking tool, canvas fingerprinting, is being used to follow visitors to thousands of top websites, from WhiteHouse.gov to YouPorn.
First documented in a forthcoming paper by researchers at Princeton University and KU Leuven University in Belgium, this type of tracking, called canvas fingerprinting, works by instructing the visitor’s Web browser to draw a hidden image. Because each computer draws the image slightly differently, the images can be used to assign each user’s device a number that uniquely identifies it.
Like other tracking tools, canvas fingerprints are used to build profiles of users based on the websites they visit — profiles that shape which ads, news articles, or other types of content are displayed to them.
But fingerprints are unusually hard to block: They can’t be prevented by using standard Web browser privacy settings or using anti-tracking tools such as AdBlock Plus.
The researchers found canvas fingerprinting computer code, primarily written by a company called AddThis, on 5 percent of the top 100,000 websites. Most of the code was on websites that use AddThis’ social media sharing tools. Other fingerprinters include the German digital marketer Ligatus and the Canadian dating site Plentyoffish. (A list of all the websites on which researchers found the code is here).
Rich Harris, chief executive of AddThis, said that the company began testing canvas fingerprinting earlier this year as a possible way to replace “cookies,” the traditional way that users are tracked, via text files installed on their computers.
“We’re looking for a cookie alternative,” Harris said in an interview.
Harris said the company considered the privacy implications of canvas fingerprinting before launching the test, but decided “this is well within the rules and regulations and laws and policies that we have.”
(Excerpt) Read more at propublica.org ...
Duh, stupid me! It says right in the article that NoScript blocks this. IMO, NoScript is as necessary as Adblock Plus. Yes, it requires effort to use properly, but in the process, you learn a whole lot about what’s going on in your browser.
Google Analytics isn’t harmless any more than Google itself is. There are open source analytics programs like Piwik that can gather data without feeding information to Big Data and the NSA.
That’s my one gripe with how FR is run, technologically speaking. Well, maybe that and not accepting Bitcoin donations.
I’m sure Mark Zuckerberg is all over it.
This is the creepiest tracking software to invade your privacy that I’ve heard about so far.
Read the article and there is a link to an opt out feature.
It is not impossible to defend yourself from this boo chit.
When LSO’s first came on the scene the work arounds weren’t, at first, easy to dispense with.
These days you can block them at will.
You can also end the spying on you and surveillance by marketing thieves with fingerprinting.
Here is an excellent thread discussing the subject.
http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/23053/how-to-fight-browser-fingerprinting
Just make sure everything you put on Facebook is complete BS.
I can create a Windows app in a couple of hours that would do that in the background. Give me a few days and I’ll post a download link to the installer. I’m campaigning against Facebook and I plan to provide the app free of charge.
do you trust that “opt out” feature?
Well, not completely—but what choice do you have?
LOL
I can live with banner & button ads on FR if they’re controlled by FR and not a third party such as Google. They could be screened to ensure that the advertisers share are values, and the advertisers would know the audience.
Another good way to raise money would be through affiliate programs with online bookstores. I’m not sure how they work now, but with Amazon you can set up links to specific titles and earn commissions when visitors make purchases via those links. I would love to see an FR Bookstore page.
Google Analytics is all over everything. I confess that I use it for my own site; I check it whenever someone sends me hate mail on Twitter (my URL is on my profile). I’ve noticed that every hate post on Twitter generates a spike in my site traffic for about an hour following the post in question.
I agree, Google Analytics (the free version) provides me valuable information on the effectiveness of my promotions, without invading anyone’s privacy. It gives me details about the location and referral sources of my visitors without any personal details that are useless to my business.
NoScript is a winner.
Suggest to John Robinson that he switch from GA to Piwik.
Are you familiar enough with any to make a recommendation? If there's a good Wordpress plugin that will replace GA I wouldn't mind trying it out.
I’m trying to goad FB into spiking my account by posting disparaging (and true) information about FB and Zuckerberg to my wall. Any links to FB dirt would be appreciated.
>>I already get “personalized” ads at “Commentary” magazine, “National Review Online,” “The Daily Caller,” and the “Drudge Report.” <<
I am NOT a geek but I am sort of ‘capable’ with computers. If you use the latest browser with all the feel good attachments such as Active X and Flash you should expect to receive ads personalized just for you. That’s what they are meant to do.
I use Firefox 10.0, I know I am at least browser 15 updates behind the times. I do not have ActiveX or Java activated because they leave behind too many trails. I do not save my daily History or my daily Cookies because that is nothing but trails for others to market.
So, go into your Options / Tools or whatever the name is that control the features of your PC and shut down all the stuff you don’t need. Cut out the trails back to your PC by using MRU-Blaster and CCleaner everytime you shut you PC off for the night or at least once every day. Together they take maybe three minutes but they remove all the extra files the marketers use to track your every move.
Then add in tools such as AdBlock Plus and DoNotTrack. Make it hard for them to follow you around and you will rarely see an ad anywhere on the Internet.
It would be EXTREMELY helpful if someone were to publish the domains or links to pages that have this code. By looking at some known examples, other domains or web pages with it could be identified.
I am running Ghostery as well,but both it and Script Weeder are blocking it so it is not getting any information at all.
Good idea. Amazon pays pretty good commissions, and not just on books. I am sure many Freepers shop there all the time anyway.
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