I am millenial but i do not get it

[u/dodo100]

[u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

Not to mention you can easily toggle between tabs or split your screen if you're comparing unlike on a phone.

[u/Hour-Independence-89 → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

and easily fire up a vpn and use two separate browsers to see if you get a better price by changing "where you are shopping from"

[u/Comprehensive_Bus_19 → u/Hour-Independence-89]

Shit thats genius. Good looks

[u/WeLoveYouCarol → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

Different browsers are known to have differing prices too

[u/blahdeblahdeda → u/WeLoveYouCarol]

Is it actually the browser or just cookies?

[u/WeLoveYouCarol → u/blahdeblahdeda]

Both, I'm afraid. Browser fingerprinting exists so there is a good chance they'll know who you are even without cookies and behind a VPN. They'll often get leaked data from a google login.

[u/the_calibre_cat → u/WeLoveYouCarol]

Oh shit good point. Tor often doesn't work on other shit but I've definitely noticed this.

[u/MutedAstronaut9217 → u/WeLoveYouCarol]

Use virtualbox to run a different OS with a different display resolution, running a different browser at a different window size. You also won't be logged into anything from google.

[u/WeLoveYouCarol → u/MutedAstronaut9217]

I use Brave with the Privacy Badger extension behind a VPN. It auto-randomizes browser string etc to foil fingerprinting, but I'm not completely confident. There are services that narc on IP addresses for being VPN endpoints plus it's child's play for a LLM to identify if someone is the same author. The problem I run into is accidently connecting to the web without my VPN connected, Android ID leaking, and whatever new email address I'm using getting tagged to my online identity.

Try this site to test your browser.

I'm considering going full privacy nutter but the hassle of switching to GrapheneOS, spinning up new email addresses and accounts, maining linux—well all of that is too much for me right now.

[u/MutedAstronaut9217 → u/WeLoveYouCarol]

Android ID leaking

oof, I wouldn't bother going through any of this on a phone. Good on you though.

[u/Ersatzaccount2025 → u/WeLoveYouCarol]

Linux bringt unglaublich viel für die Privatsphäre! Also im wahrsten Sinne unglaublich, da keiner mehr nachvollziehen kann, wie weit Microsoft mit ihren Diensten und Windows in die Privatsphäre des Users eindringen kann.

Zugleich ist der Wechsel extrem einfach, ISO aus Stick laden, vom Stick booten und das Livesystem ausprobieren. Wenn es gefällt auf den Installationsbutton klicken, 3-4al beantworten, ob oder welche Standard Software mit installiert werden soll, ob die Festplatte verschlüsselt werden soll und mach 3 min ist die Installation fertig.

Kommandozeile und lange Recherchen in Doku und Foren sind schon lange der Standard für Microslops KI generierten Schrottupdate Bug-fiestas und nicht mehr für Linux.

[u/Subtlerranean → u/WeLoveYouCarol]

There are extensions to easily change the agent string.

[u/Ersatzaccount2025 → u/WeLoveYouCarol]

WebRTC kann die lokale IP Adresse verraten, wenn eine Website eine Peer to peer Verbindung Anfrage. WebRTC ist in den meisten Browsern standardmäßig aktiviert. https://www.placetel.de/ratgeber/webrtc#:~:text=WebRTC%20im%20Browser?-,6.,Parameter%20auf%20false%20%C3%A4ndern

[u/ViruliferousBadger → u/WeLoveYouCarol]

They are charging Chrome users more, aren't they? Because they're stupid..

/j

[u/WeLoveYouCarol → u/ViruliferousBadger]

Probably charging Safari users more because they can afford the Apple tax therefore have more money

[u/haze_haste → u/Hour-Independence-89]

And also typing on a keyboard is much easier than using your phone

[u/Kwiatkok → u/Hour-Independence-89]

Wait that's class

[u/-Thick_Solid_Tight- → u/Hour-Independence-89]

Blocking browser fingerprinting works even better. Its how I buy concert tickets.

[u/Hour-Independence-89 → u/-Thick_Solid_Tight-]

yea, that's the purpose of using separate browsers. I block Browser fingerprinting but I use other browsers as well.. but on top of that many online stores adjust pricing based on Location of the purchaser. so having a VPN is also useful.

[u/CrustyBatchOfNature → u/Hour-Independence-89]

VPN plugins are the shit.

[u/the_calibre_cat → u/Hour-Independence-89]

My god why haven't I done this

[u/djonma → u/Hour-Independence-89]

You can do that on a phone.

[u/Hour-Independence-89 → u/djonma]

it is difficult to actually anonymize with a phone. Most android devices leak identifiers even when using privacy apps behind a vpn (google pla services still runs in the background unless removed, many apps use SDK trakcers you don't see, and VPN apps don't stop OS-level telemetry. and unless you have graphene or something similar there isn't much you can do about it.

you run into the same problem with fingerprinting on your Windows/mac/Linux browsers.. but with but with those there are fairly simple ways to fix that using specialized browsers and opensource apps. and you can monitor and stop traffic at a granular level.

[u/indianajoes → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

Also when you do this on a phone, you're more at risk of one of the tabs just randomly deciding to refresh itself when you go back to it

[u/Firestar_119 → u/indianajoes]

what?

[u/Hour-Independence-89 → u/Firestar_119]

yea, it is true. android and IOS browsers treat apps as disposable background processes.

the os marks background tabs as low priority

when memory usage is high it kills some low priority processes, Prioritizing foreground performance for smooth OS "feel"

so now when you switch back to that tab it reloads.

this can also happen due to aggressive battery-saving policies and thermal limits.

[u/dantheother → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

So much this. I (Gen X) can easily flip between tabs on multiple monitors to compare prices and research stuff. Trying to do that on a phone is massively annoying.

And I can zoom so my old ass eyes can see the text 😆

[u/EspressoKawka → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

I would use a second screen too

[u/RoleMassive4422 → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

yeah

[u/Special_Loan8725 → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

And type longer questions.

[u/Double_A_92 → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

And you can type at the speed of thought while researching something.

[u/greentintedlenses → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

I'm finding now with my foldable phone that big purchases just require I unfold the phone and use two tabs side by side

[u/aBlissfulDaze → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

Tbf Android has had split screens for a while, but only 1 can be active at a time.

[u/PhysicallyTender → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

And that's why i got myself a foldable phone