You must have watched how the eyes of crime scene investigators light up the second they get fingerprints at a crime scene. It is like discovering a hidden treasure because it brings them a step closer to closing the case. Fingerprints are unique to every individual. Similarly, browsers have personal markers that provide a lot of identifiable information. Through device fingerprinting, you can easily tell the operating system being used, in which time zone it is, the installed languages, and much finer details. Here is more information about web identity verification and future trends.
How Does Fingerprinting Work?
Now that you know browser fingerprinting needs certain attributes to facilitate identifying the device, how exactly does it get all this information? Read on.
Collecting Data
Every time you send a request to a server, you provide data that makes up a digital fingerprint. Many of the websites that you visit collect data points from your device and browser. Such information includes the browser type and its version, your device’s screen resolution and color depth, IP address, browser plugins, time zone, language settings, and operating system.
Fingerprint Generation
With the data collected, it becomes easy to create your unique profile; it is highly improbable that two users could have the same exact configuration. This unique fingerprint becomes an identifier, representing your browser’s identifiable data to enable storage of your profile.
Tracking
With the stored identifier, your device is recognized each time you visit the same website. As a result, your activity is traceable even when you browse in different sessions. It is important to note that even if you switch to incognito mode or clear cookies, your browser fingerprint remains unaffected.
Trends in Web Identity Verification
In 2023, many thought cross-device fingerprinting was the future. It is already here, so what’s next? Here are trends in web identity verification.
Blockchain Technology
Hackers often have a field day once they find a database since they can access loads of data from a centralized location. Blockchain technology hopes to eliminate such scenarios. Regardless, your data is often in the hands of the websites you visit. This means you are not in control of your personal information as much as you would like to because these platforms can share your data with whomever they choose.
Fortunately, blockchain technology predicts such incidents and offers a way to secure everything by eliminating centralized databases. By storing your data on the blockchain, you will be able to do all your online activities without the fear that each browser visit could inch you closer to losing control over your data.
Regulatory Compliance
With people becoming more careless about what they post online, it is only fair that a third party steps in to ensure they are not handing over their entire personal data to strangers. Thankfully, the data protection and privacy regulation by the European Union (GDPR) already plays a key role in ensuring data privacy is maintained. It aims to standardize data protection across all EU nations.
Despite being known for its strictness in enforcing GDPR, the European Commission is rethinking its position on data privacy laws. It plans to ease the burden on small and medium-sized organizations to enable them to comply. However, the commission insists that it will still preserve the underlying core objective of its data privacy law.
Is Device Fingerprinting Foolproof?
No matter how you try to make something invincible, there will always be a loophole. Web identity verification is no exemption. Just like someone will wear gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints at a crime scene, you can do the same over the web. By disabling or limiting cookies, you can make your device harder to track because most sites depend on cookies. You can, therefore, enable cookie autodeletion to increase your privacy, but note that some sites will not function properly.
Alternatively, you can change your fingerprint. It sounds mind-blowing, but it is possible. Using a TCP IP fingerprint checker, you can check your operating system and a number of other personally identifiable information on yourself. Remember that once a site identifies all this, your device gets a unique identifier.
You can change this fingerprint and, ultimately, your unique identifier to avoid detection. One of the ideal ways to go about this is to use a proxy that masks your IP address. You also have the option of changing your network settings or using specialized tools to alter certain parameters of your device.
Conclusion
Mark Zuckerberg once said that the question is not about what we want to know about people. Rather, it is about what people want to reveal about themselves. The moment you invade someone’s data privacy, you are reaching for what they were not prepared to share. Device fingerprinting has, to some extent, violated online privacy. However, the future remains uncertain about which direction web identity verification will go.
