Do the standard settings provide the best protection against digital fingerprinting?
Is the following true and do you advise taking the steps mentioned. Cookies are dying. Google has been phasing out third-party cookies in Chrome, and Apple has aggressively blocked them in Safari for years. Advertisers needed a replacement that users cannot easily clear, block, or reset. Browser fingerprinting is that replacement: it is invisible, persistent, and rebuilds itself if your setup changes slightly. The result? Targeted ads that follow you across devices and sessions, even when you think you’ve gone "private." And because it operates below the surface of most privacy laws, the protections many people rely on simply don’t apply. What Actually Works to Protect Yourself Most people get privacy wrong by making their setup more unique (rare browsers + 30 extensions = the most identifiable fingerprint on the internet). True anonymity comes from uniformity, not obscurity. Here are the proven defenses, ranked by effectiveness: 1. Choose the right browser (the single biggest decision) Tor Browser – The gold standard. It forces every user to share the exact same fingerprint. Anonymity through uniformity. Brave – Excellent middle ground for everyday use. It randomizes canvas, WebGL, audio, and other fingerprintable surfaces every session. Firefox (with strict settings) – Strong out of the box and highly customizable. Avoid Chrome for privacy-sensitive activity; it offers no native fingerprint resistance. 2. Add the right extensions (Firefox or Brave only) uBlock Origin – Blocks fingerprinting scripts before they can run. (Note: Chrome’s Manifest V3 severely limited the full version; Firefox is required for maximum protection.) CanvasBlocker – Randomizes your canvas output whenever a site tries to read it. 3. Flip one powerful Firefox setting Type about:config in the address bar → search for privacy.resistFingerprinting → set it to true. This standardizes canvas, timezone, fonts, and other outputs so you blend in with everyone else. Takes 30 seconds and makes a measurable difference.
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Note that in Firefox 119 and newer, you can disable Resist Fingerprinting (RFP:privacy.resistFingerprinting) and instead use the new Fingerprinting Protection feature (FPP:privacy.fingerprintingProtection) part of Enhanced Tracking Protection to block Known and Suspected fingerprinters that allows finer control (privacy.fingerprintingProtection.overrides). This FPP feature is by default only enabled in PB mode, so you need to select all windows
- Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Enhanced Tracking Protection -> Custom
privacy.resistFingerprinting => false privacy.fingerprintingProtection => true
- privacy.fingerprintingProtection.overrides => +AllTargets
- https://searchfox.org/mozilla-release/source/toolkit/components/resistfingerprinting/RFPTargets.inc