Aleš Kurent (2014) Tracking web users by collecting device fingerprint. EngD thesis.
Abstract
Tracking of web users is inevitable part of the World Wide Web. Different methods of web tracking exist from the very beginning of the World Wide Web. Well-known and broadly used method of web tracking, called the HTTP cookie, is a technology that is more than 20 years old and it seems it is here to stay for many years to come. With the growth of Internet and online advertising, methods of web tracking are also changing and improving. As they are becoming more aggressive, intrusive and invisible, lawgivers started to tackle the rising problem. In our thesis, we have examined one of the advanced methods of web tracking, called device fingerprinting. We have developed a device fingerprinting system that can track and recognize web users without the use of HTTP cookies. Performance of our system was tested in a study on a real set of web users, where our system correctly recognized 98.7% of users.
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