Every time you visit a website with your Internet browser through the HTTP header exchange the server will know what your browser brand you are using as well as your settings and what plugins you have installed, this data will be used in order to give you the optimum experience to serve you the best content for your Internet browser settings.
Typical information that the Internet browser transmits to the server of the visited website are the operating system, the Internet browser brand, browser version, local language settings (which can be used to determine what your native language is), if JavaScript is disabled or enabled, flash or Java plug-in presence and anything else to do with the browser environment, the combination of all of these settings together with data like geolocation, can make your browser unique and enable someone to identify and track you through websites.
Test your Internet browser uniqueness
According to an study by the Electronic Frontiers Foundation only one person in about 1,500 will have the same User Agent as you, once you combine this data with geolocation and unique browser plugins you can see how your Internet browser can become so unique that it can be used to track you down.
Test how unique and traceable your browser is at: Panopticlick EFF test
Test your Internet browser privacy and security: Browserspy.dk
Find out your Internet browser agent headers: User Agent String
Internet browser logos
Change your Internet browser user agent
Before you do this be aware first that changing your identifying browser user agent can make a website to display tailor made content for a different browser brand and present you with a malfunctioning page, but not in every case, this is just the price for achieving high Internet privacy. You can always disable the browser User Agent fake ID for trustworthy websites you trust and only use for places that you believe could be tracking you down on the Internet.
- Firefox Proxy Tool addon to manage your proxies and randomize browser user agent string
- Firefox User Agent Switcher addon to switch the browser user agent
- Chrome UserAgent Switcher extension overrides the default user agent from Chrome and fakes other browsers or a bot.
The fingerprinting of your Internet browser uses a combination of your computer IP, browser header and configuration information, one of the best things you can do to confuse websites tracking you down is to use a VPN to change your geolocation combined with a random browser user agent.