This article aims to clarify what the “device fingerprint” is, the principles of operation and the use of this technology within the Blendee platform.

Today, especially for those who work in marketing and advertising, it is increasingly important to recognize your audience and possibly the individual user. In order to achieve this, cookies are often used; but what would happen if the user had installed Adblocks or protection systems that prevent them from being recognized through cookies? We simply won’t get to know our user. In order to be able to fulfill the task of being able to know our user, the Device Fingerprint comes to our aid.

Definition

Device Fingerprinting is a technique for collecting information from and on a device connected to the web (PC, smartphone, tablet, etc.) for identification purposes (of the device and the user who uses it).

In more detail, using the
device fingerprint
the user can be monitored through the tracking and collection of technical data and properties of his device connected to the Internet (the collection of technical data – in any case identifying in accordance with current EU privacy regulations – can range from the size of the screen, to the versions of software and plug-ins installed, to the list of fonts installed by the user – by measuring the height and width of strings secretly printed on the page – to TCP/IP configurations, information from the device’s clock, the operating system used, wireless connection settings, up to the user’s original IP address).

Principles of operation

Without wanting to get into technicalities, we can summarize the operation of the fingerprint device as the data collection techniques from network traffic analysis. When all users browse, they carry information that can be easily saved. Examples of information are: a computer’s operating system or configuration
TCP/IP
of the client.

The accuracy of a fingerprint is given by the accuracy, the amount and type of data that can be collected during the scan. The various pieces of information are examined completely anonymously.

Blendee and the Device Fingerprint

The Blendee platform provides its customers with an advanced and constantly updated device fingerprint system, the result of the continuous search to reach a percentage of 100% of recognized users.

Currently, our fingerprint is able to recognize a percentage of users between 96% and 97%, which is above the average of any standard fingerprint, which generally stands at 94% of recognized users.

We are currently developing a new type of device fingerprint that will identify the information necessary to improve user recognition.

To date, with the technologies available, achieving 100% recognition is still very complex and unlikely.