It might seem that one computer is pretty much like any other. Far from it: Each has a different clock setting, different fonts, different software and many other characteristics that make it unique. Every time a typical computer goes online, it broadcasts hundreds of such details as a calling card to other computers it communicates with. Tracking companies can use this data to uniquely identify computers, cellphones and other devices, and then build profiles of the people who use them.
In its examination of 70 million website visits, 41st Parameter found it could generate a fingerprint about 89% of the time. By comparison, Steel House was able to use cookies for tracking on only about 78% of visits, because some people blocked or deleted cookies.
The Electonic Frontier Foundation has been aware of this problem for awhile. Here's a browser test they built which will tell you how unique (i.e. identifiably traceable) you are online, never mind your IP address.
Here's a screencap of the Panopticlick results for a current Firefox set-up running on Windows XP on a standard Atom netbook:
Unique among 1,277,238 browsers tested so far! That's a fingerprint, all right.
This is why you need to be using the Torbutton extension in Firefox, even if you're not using Tor. (If you're not using Tor, under "Torbutton Preferences," just click "Use Custom Proxy Settings," and change all the port numbers to "0". Careful, though-- if you want to use Tor after changing this setting, you'll have to go back to Preferences and switch the setting back to "Use Polipo," or you'll be browsing straight from your own IP.)
Torbutton spoofs your User Agent and Browser, blocks plug-in content, Flash and Flash cookies, etc. It cleans up a lot of sites in some ways, but also makes using the Internet much more of a chore (and makes some sites unusable).
Let's see what Panopticlick has to say about things now:
Some better, at 1 in 85,149-- not quite a fingerprint, but still giving a high level of probability as to identity. If you look at the results, it's that screen size and color depth information leaking out that's the problem.
So, go ahead and install the NoScript JavaScript blocking/rewriting Firefox extension, which makes using your browser even more inconvenient by hassling you to allow or disallow scripting permissions for every site you visit.
And there it is: now you're 1 out of 693-- the bland and indistinguishable blob of unformed matter you always knew yourself to be.
Of course, if you're not deleting cookies and using other privacy extensions like BetterPrivacy and HTTPSeverywhere you're still going to be identifiable by cookies and vulnerable to login breaches. So you might as well just give up and put all your information on Facebook, to save everyone the trouble of tracking your disgusting, time-wasting browsing habits.
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