Cover Your Tracks is an online test by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to determine how well a browser is protecting user data against online tracking.
When you connect to a site using a browser, information is revealed to the site automatically. Sites may run scripts to gather additional information about the device that is used, and all of that may be used to track users across the Internet.
Cover Your Tracks is based on EFF's Panopticlick tool that the organization launched in 2010 and updated in 2015. Panopticlick redirects users to the new Cover Your Tracks tool automatically.
A click on the "test your browser" button on the site runs a quick check that determines the following:
- Is the browser blocking advertisement?
- Is the browser blocking trackers.
- Is the browser unblocking third-parties that honor Do Not Track?
- Has the browser a unique fingerprint?
The test results are displayed on a single page right after the test.
While the information that the test provides may be revealing on its own, it is the explanation of the results that may be most useful to Internet users.
One of the main differences between Panopticlick and Cover Your Tracks is that the latter's aim is to go a step further than the former. Panopticlick displayed whether a browser's fingerprint was unique, and Cover Your Tracks lifts the curtain by revealing all the bits of data that the browser reveals that contribute to the fingerprint.
Based on the findings, users may change browser settings or install browser extensions to limit online tracking. The EFF recommends using the organization's own Privacy Badger application to combat online trackers, and to use a browser, e.g. Brave, that has fingerprint-protection built-in and enabled.
Third-party extensions such as NoScript, uBlock Origin, or Canvas Blocker may also be used to limit online tracking.
It is a good idea to re-run the test after modifying browser settings or installing extensions to see how the changes affect online tracking and the fingerprint of the browser.
The EFF notes that its test does not cover all tracking and fingerprinting techniques that sites may use for online tracking.
Now You: do you use online tests to determine if you can be tracked online? What do you use to combat tracking?
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