A comprehensive study by researchers at Princeton and KU Leuven has found that 96% of web users can be uniquely identified through browser fingerprinting alone, even without cookies. The research analyzed data from 2.8 million browser sessions across 150 popular websites and found that combinations of screen resolution, installed fonts, WebGL rendering, and JavaScript engine quirks create nearly unique digital signatures.
The findings challenge the effectiveness of cookie consent regulations, as fingerprinting operates silently without any data stored on the user's device. Current privacy laws in the EU and several US states do not explicitly address fingerprinting as a tracking mechanism.
