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Amidst the glossy marketing for VPN services, it can be tempting to believe that the moment you flick on the VPN connection you can browse the internet with full privacy. Unfortunately this is quite far from the truth, as interacting with internet services like websites leaves a significant fingerprint. In a study by [RTINGS.com] this browser fingerprinting was investigated in detail, showing just how easy it is to uniquely identify a visitor across the 83 laptops used in the study.

As summarized in the related video (also embedded below), the start of the study involved the Am I Unique? website which provides you with an overview of your browser fingerprint. With over 4.5 million fingerprints in their database as of writing, even using Edge on Windows 10 marks you as unique, which is telling.

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[-] lol_idk@piefed.social 61 points 2 months ago

If the NSA wants you, they will get you. But I can hide from most of you with just a little email relay and a VPN

[-] Deceptichum@quokk.au 28 points 2 months ago

I can hide from everyone, I just walk into the woods.

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

Heeeeey. Former kid, current adult, and future crazy old man here. Quick question. Do they still have 1 box of communal porn in the woods? Every woods had one when I was a kid, but I haven't been in the woods ever since we had to kill that bear.

Just wondering if woods porn is still a thing.

[-] Deceptichum@quokk.au 11 points 2 months ago

No, we're more into woods erotic geocaching these days.

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 months ago

Sadly, I've not come upon such a cache since the before times.

[-] lol_idk@piefed.social 6 points 2 months ago

The woods are where i can find people though

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Those aren't people anymore. They're taxidermied corpses. There's a difference.

Also, stop doing that.

[-] lol_idk@piefed.social 4 points 2 months ago

I can't stop myself

this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2025
409 points (98.1% liked)

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