A digital fingerprint, also known as a browser or machine/device fingerprint, is a unique identifier that collects and contains information about an individual’s online device and behavior. Compared to the simplicity of cookies, it contains a whole lot of unique data that can be used to portray your device and how it’s being used. It tracks data such as:
- Operating system
- IP address
- Screen resolution
- Time zone settings
- Installed plugins
- Browser software version
- Hardware models and specs
- System fonts – and so on, and so forth.
How Digital Fingerprint Is Tracked
Digital fingerprints are tracked through browser fingerprinting scripts embedded in websites which collect specific information from visiting devices. This tracking can occur both with user consent (e.g., for improving user experience) or without it (e.g., for targeted advertising).
The tracking without user consent is most common as most websites, including almost all social media, use browser fingerprinting as standard. This creates a certain ethical problem as not all users like being served ads that seem to know too much about the user.
Management Challenges
Managing digital fingerprints is difficult because they’re not easily alterable by users unlike cookies, IP address alone and history. Since they consist of inherent properties of one’s device and internet connection setup rather than stored data files, changing them would require significant alterations to your computer setup. Additionally, their invisibility to average users makes it hard to detect when they’re being used for tracking purposes.
This means digital fingerprint management requires special software – for example, a privacy browser like GoLogin. GoLogin offers 50+ sophisticated browser fingerprint parameters to alter, so it’s naturally able to bypass digital fingerprint tracking even on most advanced websites. Plus, it is tailored to be used by non-techy people, as it requires no adjustments to work properly.
Digital Fingerprint Importance
The uniqueness of each digital fingerprint allows companies to track individuals’ web activity across different sessions and sites even if cookies are cleared regularly. While this has privacy implications due its potential misuse in unauthorized tracking or profiling activities; on the positive side it aids in fraud detection by identifying suspicious patterns or inconsistencies in device usage.
