Why Deleting Cookies Doesn’t Protect Your Privacy

Most internet users know that cookies are used to monitor their browsing activity, but few realize that deleting them does not necessarily protect their privacy. A newer and more advanced method known as browser fingerprinting is now being used to identify and track people online. 

Browser fingerprinting works differently from cookies. Instead of saving files or scripts on your device, it quietly gathers detailed information from your browser and computer settings. This includes your operating system, installed fonts, screen size, browser version, plug-ins, and other configuration details. Together, these elements create a unique digital signature, often as distinct as a real fingerprint. 

Each time you open a website, your browser automatically sends information so that the page can load correctly. Over time, advertisers and data brokers have learned to use this information to monitor your online movements. Because this process does not rely on files stored on your computer, it cannot be deleted or cleared, making it much harder to detect or block. 

Research from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) through its Cover Your Tracks project shows that most users have unique fingerprints among hundreds of thousands of samples. 

Similarly, researchers at Friedrich-Alexander University in Germany have been studying this technique since 2016 and found that many browsers retai

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