Really interesting project

This article is both interesting and scary haha. Researchers at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation tried an experiment. The group that managed the online privacy advocacy set up a web page and collected browser information from visitors. The site was set up so it didn't steal any data or ask for installations of any sort, it would simply log the basic information almost all internet users in the world believe unknowingly hand over each time they visit a website. This information included their time zone and Internet-Protocol (IP). These can be important clues with regards to locating a certain individual after finding out this address. This is a very interesting study because the group responsible for the site are professionals and the survey is completely hidden from visitors or participants. This was the result of the study. "More than 470,000 Web surfers, 83.6 per cent of them had an instantly identifiable, totally unique fingerprint: Their particular combination of settings and information was unlike that of any other user, creating an excellent chance they could be personally identified, even though they had done nothing but make a few clicks of the mouse. This stat is extremely alarming and honestly made me think about the sites I visit. I'll leave this blog with one last statement to really open your eyes.

"If you think the long-form census is pushy for asking you how many bedrooms are in your house, imagine someone knowing the exact color of the IKEA sheets you're thinking of buying for your bed."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/the-end-of-online-privacy/article1214216/?page=all