In the digital era we live in, privacy has become a crucial element in maintaining security and control over our information. Online privacy not only ensures our safety but also keeps our data as our own, preventing our habits from being used against us when they fall into the wrong hands.
Every time we browse the web, we leave digital footprints that are tracked and used by third parties for purposes ranging from marketing to more harmful activities, such as calculating the maximum price we’re willing to pay for an airplane ticket, for instance. That’s why secure and private browsing is essential in cyberspace, and surprisingly, it goes hand in hand with full-screen browsing.
What is fingerprinting?
To address online privacy concerns adequately, it is vital to understand the term “fingerprinting.” This concept refers to techniques used by some companies and websites to gather unique information about our devices and browsing habits. Such information may include the operating system, browser version, installed extensions, available fonts, screen settings, and more. When combined, these data points can form a unique “digital fingerprint” that can be used to identify and track us on the web.
Fingerprinting is a situation that affects all browsers and operating systems since it leverages the inherent functionality of the browser necessary for navigating the web. While some browsers offer more privacy than others, it’s worth highlighting the significant efforts made by Safari. However, no browser can guarantee absolute privacy regarding the fingerprints we leave while browsing. Furthermore, even with the use of a VPN or incognito mode, we can still be tracked through fingerprinting. It is by no means a foolproof solution, but browsing in full-screen mode is an additional step we can take in our arsenal of resources against tracking.
So many combinations, that the possibilities identify us
Each data point collected from the browser when visiting a website has a different impact on our identification. For example, using the browser in English or Spanish makes little difference. There are millions of people using both languages. However, among the various measurements, one stands out: how many people will be browsing with a window size of precisely 1224×935 pixels?
With the vastness of the world, there may be more than a few individuals with the same window size of 1224×935 pixels, but identification becomes much easier when combined with other factors such as the browser language, time zone, and information about installed plugins. This unique combination creates a distinctive fingerprint that can identify us.
Due to the countless possible combinations of window sizes and arrangements, this data becomes a virtually unique and personal characteristic of each user. In contrast, when browsing in full-screen mode, all users of the same device type have the same window size. This reduces the usefulness of the collected information for trackers, as the uniformity of the window size diminishes their ability to distinguish between different users.
Indeed, it is a minor detail beyond mere curiosity. However, if we can enjoy both more private browsing and a larger browsing space, it might be worth considering more often. As we mentioned before, full-screen browsing is by no means a definitive solution to fingerprinting, but it does provide a small help that makes it more challenging to be easily tracked across the internet.
While we await iOS 17 and its anti-tracking system, adopting the habit of full-screen browsing allows us to reduce the amount of personal information collected, thus limiting the effectiveness of fingerprinting. Online privacy, after all, is a right that we can all protect, and every small step we take to preserve it matters.
Some of the links added in the article are part of affiliate campaigns and may represent benefits for Softonic.
