Food and discussion begin at 12:30pm. Open to CITP affiliates only.

In this talk I’ll discuss the state of persistent tracking mechanisms on the web, including results from our recent work in this area. In particular, I’ll explain the three technologies we studied (canvas fingerprinting, evercookies, and cookie syncing), show the steps we used to detect them, and discuss who is using them and how frequently. Persistent tracking mechanisms can make it difficult for users to prevent long-term tracking of their page visits, even for those who take steps to preserve their privacy. I’ll show how a combination of these technologies could allow trackers to continue tracking through cookie clears.