Thanks Joe: Same question as to VPN: Does Google perceive a VPN as proxy? If so then it's no good, as they don't count proxies, or see a proxy as a real user.
I can't answer that one, but it would be worth trying.
Also can one use, if works, VPN on iphone or only laptop?
Desktop, Laptop, Tablet, or SmartPhone all can use VPN provided the VPN provider has a client for each of the platforms. There are many that cover both MacOS and iOS on the App Store.
Your conjecture / points good. you are saying that this digital fingerprinting may eventually be outlawed?
Given the attitude of current White House, House of Representatives, and Senate toward enriching business interests at the expense of the public and their aversion to anyone's privacy but their own the odds of that happening are somewhere between razor thin and none. That doesn't mean legislation against it won't be introduced — it might, but it will never get out of committee.
But for all intents purposes Joe, If I search something on Google, from a new isp, coffeehouse, even with private browser, on iphone/ laptop, and then another isp, at new cafe, in private, cache cleared/ cookies cleared/ Private, yet Google knows it me still? My iphone/ laptop again? Crazy.
Have you deleted all the cookies in all your browsers? Google has its tentacles in lots of cookies that do not bear its name. Try deleting all cookies, flushing all caches, and set Safari Preferences > Privacy to
- Always block Cookies and website data
- Deny without prompting Website use of location data
- Avoid e-commerce and financial websites
That will of course make the use of many web sites problematic at best and most e-commece sties unusable. Even with that Google has some very sophisticated algorithms that can make some surprisingly reliable guess about you from minuscule amounts of information.
