Privacy isn’t just about complex regulations-—it’s about practical tools that give individuals real control. Recently I discovered Cover Your Tracks, a free tool from the Electronic Frontier Foundation that does something surprisingly simple yet powerful: it shows you exactly how trackable you are online.
What Is Cover Your Tracks?
Developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, this web tool does a deep dive into your browser’s unique fingerprint. Most people have no idea how much information their own browser leaks about their identity, location, and browsing habits. Cover Your Tracks reveals the digital breadcrumbs you’re leaving behind without even realizing it.
How It Works
The process is straightforward:
- Visit the Cover Your Tracks website
- The tool runs a series of tests on your browser
- It generates a detailed report about your online trackability
What You’ll Learn
The tool reveals:
- Just how unique your browser configuration is
- What types of tracking techniques are embedded in the websites you visit
- The myriad ways advertisers and websites can identify you
My first run was eye-opening. Turns out, my browser configuration is almost as unique as a fingerprint—-meaning websites could easily identify me even if I’m using incognito mode.
From the EFF:
A digital fingerprint is essentially a list of characteristics that are unique to a single user, their browser, and their particular hardware setup. This includes information the browser needs to send to access websites, like the location of the website the user is requesting. But it also includes a host of seemingly insignificant data (like screen resolution and installed fonts) gathered by tracking scripts. Tracking sites can stitch all the small pieces together to form a unique picture, or “fingerprint,” of your device.
Practical Takeaways
Cover Your Tracks isn’t just about scary revelations, it’s an educational tool that empowers users. After running the test, you get recommendations for:
- Browser extensions that enhance privacy
- Settings changes to reduce trackability (mostly impossible as they explain, since the more you try to protect yourself the more you stand out)
- How you can become slightly more anonymous when you surf the web
A Note of Perspective
As I’m studying for the CIPP/E certification, I’m trying hard to discover how real-life strategies bridge the gap between legal frameworks and everyday privacy. Data privacy law talks about data protection principles, but Cover Your Tracks shows what those principles look like in practice.