Browser Fingerprint Detection and Anti-Tracking
Kaitong Lin, Huazhu Cao, Amin Milani Fard
TL;DR
The paper addresses the privacy risk of browser fingerprinting and proposes a Chrome extension that both detects and degrades fingerprinting signals. It introduces three integrated modules: (1) API rewriting and request interception to mask fingerprint data, (2) data generation/storage/transfer to forge and persist fingerprint information per session, and (3) monitoring/logging to track attempts and present a tracking dashboard. Key contributions include a user-friendly extension with configurable spoofing, per-tab data scoping, asynchronous log handling, and performance evaluation showing negligible impact on page load and memory. This approach provides a practical, deployable privacy tool that enhances user control over fingerprint-based tracking in everyday browsing.
Abstract
Digital fingerprints have brought great convenience and benefits to many online businesses. However, they pose a significant threat to the privacy and security of ordinary users. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of current anti-tracking methods against digital fingerprints and design a browser extension that can effectively resist digital fingerprints and record the website's collection of digital fingerprint-related information.