Article URL: https://mysysinfo.com/blog/what-is-browser-fingerprinting Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48856685 Points: 7 # Comments: 0

How websites track you across the internet — without cookies, without your knowledge, and without any way to clear it. Browser fingerprinting is a tracking technique that collects unique technical details about your browser and device to create a digital "fingerprint." Unlike cookies, it works silently in the background, cannot be cleared by deleting your history, and continues tracking you even in incognito mode. When you visit a website, your browser automatically shares certain parameters so the page displays correctly. Tracking scripts gather dozens of these signals — operating system, browser version, screen resolution, timezone, installed fonts, GPU details — and combine them into a unique identifier. While millions of people might share one trait (like using Windows), the exact combination of all your settings is mathematically unique to you. The result is converted into a single hash — a tracking ID that follows you across sites. Canvas fingerprinting. A script instructs your browser to draw a hidden image — text, shapes, subtle color gradients — that is never shown on screen. Because every combination of GPU, graphics driver, and operating system renders the image with tiny differences, the resulting pixels form a stable identifier. It is one of the most widely used techniques because it requires no permission and produces consistent results. WebGL & WebGPU probing. These browser APIs exist so websites can run 3D graphics, but the way your hardware completes a rendering task reveals details about your specific GPU model and drivers. A script can request a small 3D scene, measure how it comes out, and read vendor strings directly from the API. The result narrows you down considerably, since GPU and driver combinations vary widely between devices. Font & plugin enumeration. Scripts can test which fonts are installed on your system by measuring how text renders in each one, and can probe for the presence of browser extensions. Your particular set of installed fonts — shaped by the software you have installed over the years — is often distinctive on its own. Audio fingerprinting. The Web Audio API lets a script generate and process a sound signal entirely in the background, without ever playing anything through your speakers. Small differences in audio hardware and software processing produce measurably different output from the same input. That output becomes another stable component of your fingerprint.