Digital Fingerprint - Does it really work?

[BadWolfe]

I've tested multiple sites with and without Kamo running, but the digital fingerprint they report is unchanged.  Does Kamo actually work as advertised?

https://www.deviceinfo.me/

https://privacy.net/analyzer/

[BadWolfe]

I am not seeing any responses from Support on this post.  Does that mean you are unable to show me evidence that Kamo actually does provide a different digital fingerprint?  I am not trying to be argumentative, I just want validation that this service actually works.

[Guest johnccleaner]

To begin with, please note that if you want the fastest possible response from support, it is best to contact support directly. :) You can do this via the Contact Us form located here: https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=86507 or by emailing support@ccleaner.com directly.

While I've not used the sites that you listed, I just tested Kamo again against https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/ successfully.

Specifically, my testing method was as follows:

1. Run Google Chrome (without Browser Protection enabled for it)
2. Browse to https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/
3. Test (with 'real tracking companies' enabled, just for thoroughness) the browser
4. Save this information (in a Word document, for the sake of argument)
5. Close Google Chrome
6. Open Kamo, enable Browser Protection for Google Chrome
7. Reopen Google Chrome
8. Test with https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/ again, same settings
9. Compare results 

Now, at first glance, one might look at the results from this test and become very worried, as it prominently says "Our tests indicate that you are not protected against tracking on the Web" and that "Your browser has a unique fingerprint".

However, looking more closely at the results, one gets a more interesting viewpoint. The User Agent section had a new item added to it, details of the HTTP_ACCEPT headers had changed, the list of Browser Plugins had changed considerably, the Hash of Canvas Fingerprint had changed, and so on.

This is exactly how Kamo is intended and expected to behave; it's not trying to "eliminate" your fingerprint (as, among other things, that could cause a number of websites to break outright by denying information they use to format the page properly for you), but instead to alter it enough that you no longer seem to be the same person. 

I'll be happy to report the results that you spotted to our development team, however, so that this can be investigated further. The intention is for the anti-fingerprinting feature not to be 'visible' to you (so there's some items it can't change, like the browser you appear to be using or your screen resolution, since these would likely break websites relying on them), but we always want to improve it so that it's as effective as possible within that confine. :)

Also, a very simple test is logging into a site that uses fingerprinting for security (many banking sites do this), then seeing if they ask you to log back in or reauthenticate later after your fingerprint has been changed. (I can personally say that this has happened to me with my credit union's site!)

[BadWolfe]

johnccleaner, first off, thank you for your detailed response.  Two things if I can:

Fingerprint:  Thank you for taking the time for such a detailed response.  Greatly appreciate it.  I will spend some time testing to see if Kamo masks a Fingerprint.  I did notice that most Banking sites had no problem when I logged on with Kamo Fingerprint feature enabled.  

Again, thank you for allowing me to provide this feedback.  My only intent is to see that the product is successful.

Contacting support:  Thank you for providing those support contact links.   Now this is probably by design, but when I select "Support" from the Kamo menu, I did not easily see any place to send a message to support.  I am sure I overlooked it, but the only place I was able to post this request was this forum.  If I missed the obvious, I apologize.