The EFF Wonders if You Can Be Identified by Your Browser, Help Out

From EFF.org:

When you visit a website, you are allowing that site to access a lot of information about your computer’s configuration. Combined, this information can create a kind of fingerprint — a signature that could be used to identify you and your computer. But how effective would this kind of online tracking be?

EFF is running an experiment to find out. Our new website Panopticlick will anonymously log the configuration and version information from your operating system, your browser, and your plug-ins, and compare it to our database of five million other configurations. Then, it will give you a uniqueness score — letting you see how easily identifiable you might be as you surf the web.

Try it out. My browser registers as pretty unique right now, but there clearly needs to be a lot more participants to get an accurate picture. Takes less than 30 seconds and you get to see all sorts of information you probably didn’t know other people could see.

Algorithmically related posts:

  • http://www.alexisofroses.wordpress.com Lexi

    My score is one in 161,516 browsers. I’m rather surprised… I have done very little to customise my browser too. That’s a cool link.

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