Web browser fingerprinting

Web browser fingerprinting is a technique to identify a web browser (and thus indirectly a web user) based on various characteristics that the browser exhibits.

Among the characteristics that allow to fingerprint a browser are

• User agent strings
• HTTP accept headers
• Screen resolution
• Timezone
• Supported MIME types
• A list of system fonts
• A list of installed browser plugins
• Canvas fingerprinting (eg by measuring how anti-aliased lines are drawn)