How does Google know it's me?

As you know, Google's surveillance style biz plan is to have a giant database on all of us, for sale to marketers they say. They say this won't be used for un-constitutional purposes.

"It won't, we promise. Cross our hearts and hope to die, serious. "

That aside, is it just cookies? Or is it:

-mac address

-IP address

-serial number hard drive

-AI pattern reco

-email adr

??

I use IXquick. It sanitizes your identity and goes to Google for the search.

j
Reply to
haiticare2011
Loading thread data ...

There is a website you can go to that 'looks' at your system and tells you just how unique you are, based upon OS, browzer, connection, etc. Sorry, can't find that URL.

That URL showed that my system is 1 in 2 million, so I cna likely be tracked WITHOUT cookies.

Reply to
RobertMacy

How does the remote server pull you hard drive serial number? The rest are possible.

Reply to
edward.ming.lee

Without installing anything on your computer, it uses your browser version, add-ons installed, and such. Of course it has your IP address, too.

Reply to
krw

The site is:

formatting link

Reply to
Jim Whitby

I wrote this page back in 1996, when CGI scripts were high fashion. Run some of the tests and see what a the web server knows about you.

With javascript, some additional info can be extracted:

If the server runs traceroute on the source address (that's your router) it can determine where you're located (or at least where your ISP is located). There are also sites that will attempt to locate you by IP address.

Of course, if you're logged into a Google account, all kinds of information is recorded including your location history:

Various anonymizer, VPN, and proxy server systems can block most of this kind of stuff, but not everything. For example, if the web server queries your screen resolution or which plugins are available, the request goes directly to your machine, unless the anonymizer blocks all such queries or sniffs the traffic. You can test their effectiveness at: etc...

In effect, you are being "fingerprinted", where a collection of trivial electronic factoids can be assembled into an identifiable pattern. You can either poison the data by returning fake replies, or starve the web server by returning nothing.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

I get this "Within our dataset of several million visitors, only one in 30,906 browsers have the same fingerprint as yours."

So what does that tell me? ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Mine is:

Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the 4,203,278 tested so far.

I need to go burn my fingers.

Not a whole lot. Just mean that you are running standard window install, common to many orders.

Reply to
edward.ming.lee

The smaller number seems to me to mean less visibility. Probably because I have javascript disabled and also NoScript installed (on Firefox).

I think what I need to do is go thru the laborious task of allowing cookies _only_ for select sites... like banks, credit cards, etc. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Are you sure? Or is it a 'honeypot' that attracks privacy minded constitutionalists and other 'radicalised home grown terrorists' to be marked for further scrutiny?

Reply to
joe hey

I think it means that when a site sees a browser with the same fingerprint as yours, there is a chance of 1 in 30,906 that it's you. Or rather, that it's your browser.

joe

Reply to
joe hey

Click on the various titles on the left hand side of the screen. Your browser rats you out every chance it gets. Did you know when you shut off normal cookies it still lets other variations of them through? Governments' lust for power and corporate greed have killed privacy.

formatting link

mike

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It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my 
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Reply to
m II

Wow, I knew I was not typical, but really?

Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the 4,203,669 tested so far.

I bet it's my screen resolution 640 x 481 lol

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

Hmm, I got "Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the

4,203,787 tested so far."

Grant.

Reply to
Grant

It's iceweasel on a Linux, isn't it?

Reply to
Johann Klammer

No, it's crapweasel on Windows. I was joking about the resolution. 481 vs 480 for standard VGA.

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

No, they can't see that.

possibly.

No, they can't see that.

probably not.

only if you tell them.

given that google actively blocks automated searches I find that hard to believe.

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Reply to
Jasen Betts

no it's not like that at all.

it means that an a group of a million there will be about 25 people who are indistinguishable.

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umop apisdn 


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Reply to
Jasen Betts

The same way it pulls email address or mac address, (those are also impossible)

--
umop apisdn
Reply to
Jasen Betts

I got:

"Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the 4,204,701 tested so far. Currently, we estimate that your browser has a fingerprint that conveys at least 22 bits of identifying information."

So not such good news!

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Mike Perkins 
Video Solutions Ltd 
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Reply to
Mike Perkins

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