Google can identify me from my screen size and screen res. What are the best methods of avoiding this?

[larsvontrier 1]

After using Airvpn, I noticed Youtube would still recommend videos based on my ethnicity. This is frightening because I know Google can still see me easily even when I use a vpn!
But if I vary the screen size of the Youtube (Google) webpage - I find that Youtube recommended videos DO NOT offer videos based on my ethnicity.
So what are the best methods of not compromising your identity based on screen size and screen res? For example, even TOR tells you to reduce your screen size!
Anyone out there with a genius solution?

[NoiselessOwl 26]

Google have trackers across the internet that are capable of knowing who you are based on the fingerprinting and various method of your browser headers, IP, and your phone. Google are not the only one whom does this, Facebook, Amazon and few others have the same capabilities. It can be through the ads, tags, CDNs, fonts, cookies, local storage, etc (really, the list goes on and on and on). Yes, it may be a huge shock to you but it been like that for a long time. I remember reading the article back in 2007 the concerns about Facebook Beacon and SuperCookie. VPN is not designed for a full anonymity, it is only designed to encrypted the transmission between you and the VPN server to prevent anyone seeing what is in the transmission. The only they can see it is scrambled information between you and the VPN server.

Since you said webpage, I would assume you are looking YouTube through a browser. It is likely you don't have a privacy protection addons and browser. Combine them with VPN will get you closer to a full anonymity. If you are using Google Chrome, avoid it all cost since it come with Google services that are capable of tracking you. Try Firefox Quantum (if you have used it in the past, try it now since they have improved a lot) since it come with privacy protection built in. Or any Chromium-based browser such as Brave. If you want to get closer to full anonymity, then you need to get addons such as uBlock Origin for blocking ads and specific element, Privacy Badger for scrambling your information to the trackers, uMatrix for granular control over specific requests and it also have auto cookie destruction (some people prefer NoScript),  HTTPS Everywhere for forcing the site to HTTPS and will fall back to HTTP if it didn't have HTTPS, Firefox Multi-Account Containers for site isolation to prevent cross-tracking other tabs, Decentraleyes for tracking protection in CDNs.

See how much we uses those addons? Yea, that how BIG they are tracking us since it made them money to sell to third-party.

[Tech Jedi Alex 1582]

I'd like to add a few things.

• uMatrix and NoScript are very technical, especially the first one. You will not get good results if you don't have basic knowledge about how content on a website is processed by your browser.
• For Firefox site isolation there's the built-in First Party Isolation setting in about:config which also isolates addons (privacy.firstparty.isolate).
• Some websites won't load with the outdated library versions Decentraleyes provides, especially jQuery.

If you want an overview on the capabilities your browser provides for tracking, see EFF's Panopticlick. See it as an orientation.

[trott3r 6]

Firefox plugins:

Multi account containers
and also cyberdec anitfingerprinting plugin.

The last one does break sites so you have to spend some time reduce your protection on some sites or go elsewhere.

[larsvontrier 1]

On 11/21/2019 at 4:23 PM, NoiselessOwl said:

Google have trackers across the internet that are capable of knowing who you are based on the fingerprinting and various method of your browser headers, IP, and your phone. Google are not the only one whom does this, Facebook, Amazon and few others have the same capabilities. It can be through the ads, tags, CDNs, fonts, cookies, local storage, etc (really, the list goes on and on and on). Yes, it may be a huge shock to you but it been like that for a long time. I remember reading the article back in 2007 the concerns about Facebook Beacon and SuperCookie. VPN is not designed for a full anonymity, it is only designed to encrypted the transmission between you and the VPN server to prevent anyone seeing what is in the transmission. The only they can see it is scrambled information between you and the VPN server.

Since you said webpage, I would assume you are looking YouTube through a browser. It is likely you don't have a privacy protection addons and browser. Combine them with VPN will get you closer to a full anonymity. If you are using Google Chrome, avoid it all cost since it come with Google services that are capable of tracking you. Try Firefox Quantum (if you have used it in the past, try it now since they have improved a lot) since it come with privacy protection built in. Or any Chromium-based browser such as Brave. If you want to get closer to full anonymity, then you need to get addons such as uBlock Origin for blocking ads and specific element, Privacy Badger for scrambling your information to the trackers, uMatrix for granular control over specific requests and it also have auto cookie destruction (some people prefer NoScript),  HTTPS Everywhere for forcing the site to HTTPS and will fall back to HTTP if it didn't have HTTPS, Firefox Multi-Account Containers for site isolation to prevent cross-tracking other tabs, Decentraleyes for tracking protection in CDNs.

See how much we uses those addons? Yea, that how BIG they are tracking us since it made them money to sell to third-party.

Thank you  for your reply.
Big companies seem to think they can encroach on people's privacy and freedom without even asking for the privilege!

The problem with the internet is we can't have complete privacy even with a paid VPN.
But if a VPN can stop my ISP from spying on my browser history then that is a good thing.

My problem with using using browsers with a low-user base is that it may help to identify me more easily.
If we could use a free and open-source browser which deliberately gives wrong info about the browser and OS we use then wouldn't this anonymize us more?
Of course, this may break the website because the 'content negotiation' between the website and the browser is incorrect. The website will present the wrong version of itself to the browser and so the website cannot be seen properly.

The 'device fingerprinting' page on Wikipedia says Firefox can protect against fingerprinting but 'as of July 2018 this feature is not initiated by default since it's on an experimental stage'.
But Apple's Safari browser 'presents simplified system information when users browse the web, preventing them from being tracked based on their system configuration'.
Of course we can't believe everything a profit-making company says, but why can't Firefox do what Apple is doing already?

Further down the Wikipedia page there is more interesting information!
We can change our device signature by:

1. Using a different browser on the same machine
2. Using a different OS using a virtual machine.

So greater anonymity is reached via VPN, Oracle VM with several Windows OSs and Linux, and different web browsers with each OS being used!

 

[larsvontrier 1]

On 11/21/2019 at 6:47 PM, giganerd said:

I'd like to add a few things.

• uMatrix and NoScript are very technical, especially the first one. You will not get good results if you don't have basic knowledge about how content on a website is processed by your browser.
• For Firefox site isolation there's the built-in First Party Isolation setting in about:config which also isolates addons (privacy.firstparty.isolate).
• Some websites won't load with the outdated library versions Decentraleyes provides, especially jQuery.

If you want an overview on the capabilities your browser provides for tracking, see EFF's Panopticlick. See it as an orientation.

I currently use both uMatrix and NoScript. Yes uMatrix is very complicated for an add-on but they do have a wiki page which explains all its features.
Unfortunately, it's an extremely long read!

Thank you for the Panopticlick link!
It says 'Yes! You have strong protection against Web tracking, though your software isn’t checking for Do Not Track policies.'

But it also says 'only one in 25925.38 browsers have the same fingerprint as yours'.
What does this mean? Does this mean it has uniquely identifies me even with a VPN?

 

[larsvontrier 1]

On 11/21/2019 at 7:37 PM, trott3r said:

Firefox plugins:

Multi account containers
and also cyberdec anitfingerprinting plugin.

The last one does break sites so you have to spend some time reduce your protection on some sites or go elsewhere.

On the Mozilla support page, it says 'Note that Containers is disabled in Private Browsing and when Never Remember History is selected in your privacy preferences'.

I don't use private browsing but 'never remember history' is always on.
So I don't see the advantage of containers?

Also where can I get more info on cyberdec?
Admittedly, I try not use too many add-ons as they may conflict with each other or third-party software can be vulnerable.

[trott3r 6]

The different containers stop one container getting information from another.

For example Say your banking container is not accessible by your shopping container.