What is Browser Fingerprinting and How Can You Avoid it?

Websites want to know everything about you: your tastes, your habits, and where you like to browse. When you load a website, it silently runs scripts in the background that collect information about you and your device.

The operating system, the web browser, all installed extensions, and your time zone; All of this information is gathered to create a “fingerprint” that can be used to track you across the internet through cross-site tracking.

Avast offers a detailed explanation and details various forms of fingerprinting. For example, the “canvas” method forces the browser to draw an image or text in the background to determine the operating system, web browser, graphics card, installed drivers, and current font style without the user’s knowledge.

The device footprint determines all external and internal device components. As your footprint is tracked across the internet, this “profile” can be sold to data brokers, who then resell the information to advertisers.

It is a more discreet means of collecting data about you versus cookies that require your authorization. The problem is that browser traces are still perfectly legal.

The best way to avoid a browser’s footprint is to randomize and generalize the data. Third-party software like Avast AntiTrack does this by inserting “fake” data when website scripts try to get your information. However, this tool allows scripts to run in the background, so the website doesn’t crash.

Many browsers offer some form of anti-fingerprint protection. These include Avast Secure Browser, Brave Browser (random distribution), Mozilla Firefox (blocking fingerprint scripts), and Tor Browser (data generalization).