EFF released Panopticlick 2.0 for browser fingerprinting

As you know, a particular user on the Internet can be recognized not only by the cookie files, but also by the unique “fingerprint” of his browser. If you use a browser with a set of certain plug-ins, fonts, in a certain configuration and screen resolution, etc., then the combination of all these settings may be unique among millions of users (most likely, it will be unique, you can check it here ).

There are ways to protect against such fingerprinting. For example, the Firegloves extension for Firefox closes the browser footprint, changing many of the browser settings to common values, constantly changing the screen resolution values, platform, language, and other identifiers.

Almost six years ago, the Electronic Frontier Foundation released the first version of a tool for taking a browser print and checking it for the uniqueness of Panopticlick . Two days ago, EFF announced the upgrade of this tool to Panopticlick version 2.0.


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The new version implements additional tests for the uniqueness of the browser print, such as checking support for canvas and touch-capability .

HTML5 canvas-fingerprinting has been used by many websites for over a year now. Suitable services for visitor tracking are offered, for example, by AddThis . Check for HTML5 canvas-fingerprinting: demo .



In addition, a set of additional tests appeared on Panopticlick, which analyze the current browser settings and extensions, determining the presence / absence of protection from: 1) tracking ad banners; 2) tracking " beacons ". In addition, it checks the availability of settings for unlocking sites that support the policy Do Not Track .

The Panopticlick backend is completely rewritten in Python and published on Github.

By default, Panopticlick shows summary results in short form. The link opens detailed results for all tests performed:

• Superkuki
• Canvas Fingerprinting
• Screen Size and Color Depth
• Browser extensions
• Timezone
• Do Not Track Header
• HTTP Accept Headers
• Webgl fingerprinting
• Tongue
• System fonts
• Platform
• User Agent
• Touch support
• Cookies

Unfortunately, even in the second version, Panopticlick does not check all the parameters by which the user can be monitored. For example, there is no check for IP address leakage through WebRTC .

The E-Boundary Foundation strongly recommends that all users install online surveillance protection tools available for their platform, such as Privacy Badger , Disconnect, and AdBlock .