TCP/IP browser fingerprint

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The Internet Protocol Suite, or TCP/IP, is a set of communications protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks. The TCP/IP fingerprinting (or Passive OS fingerprinting) is a remote detection method of the characteristics of a TCP/IP protocol stack implementation.

With the use of this method, it can be determined by the webservers whether the client that is connecting to it is a Linux, a Mac or a Windows machine. This is achieved by simply analyzing the network packets' size.

Kameleo or other privacy tools cannot change it, since the problem is inherent to the device.

kameleo-tcpip-header-different.png
The Header and the TCP/IP is different
kameleo-tcpip-header-same.png
The Header and the TCP/IP data is the same

TCP/IP browser fingerprint from a privacy perspective

Should anyone worry about this?

The short answer is no. Websites usually do not apply this method and it is not reliable, therefore no website will limit access to their services because of the TCP/IP browser fingerprint. E.g., a proxy can easily modify the results, because TCP/IP browser fingerprint will be the proxy’s OS. That would damage the user experience for regular users.

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