Privacy, Proxy, and Browsers

[juniodude]

Hey guys,

I was wandering, if I want more privacy for say something like yahoo mail and I used Opera with Tor to log in and out of my Yahoo Mail account, and then I used my Firefox to browse the web and log in to another one of my Yahoo Mail accounts, Will Yahoo be able to link the two accounts together? Will they know that Yahoo Account that I logged in with Opera(and Tor) is my computer's IP? Is there any way that they could possibly find out?

I ask this because I heard cookies are stored in different places for different browsers making one unaccessible to cookies of the other browser (I'm not sure this is true, just heard). Could they figure out the two accounts are connected by looking at my computer settings and what not and linking the two together?

I'm not speaking specifically for Yahoo by the way. I'm just talking about in general..Google, MSN, AOL, etc.

Thanks guys

[tedster]

Yes, each browser does store its cookies in a seperate place. However, even using an anonymity network and separate browser is not a 100% guarantee of, well, anonymity. I don't know about the state of the art at each of the companies you mention, but there are advanced forms of traffic analysis that can still identify such a user, especially over time.

The whole field of traffic analysis has become a hotbed of development in trying to defend agaist click fraud, as well as being needed for legal and military intelligence.

[juniodude]

Hey Tedster,

Thanks for the response. I'm not trying to do anything illegal=P so yeah. I was just wondering how well these companies track people.

Would it be much safer just to use anonmity all the time? Does Tor completely hide my identity?

thanks

[bill]

Tor hides your originating IP. If you log in using a username and password then it's possible to at least track your usage. They won't be able to tell what your actual IP is, just the IP of the Tor server your traffic exits from.

[juniodude]

okay i see,

so using Tor makes someone who is surfing the web a pretty good amount of anonmity.

Are there ways they could still figure out who you are by checking your computer's id? I heard something about a mac address?

[bill]

No, a MAC address would not be broadcast over the net just by visiting a website. That information is normally shared with your local network.

[jarjarB]

yes, that is right, for most intents and purposes, mac addresses cannot be found easily

[edited by: jarjarB at 9:48 pm (utc) on Mar. 2, 2007]