Washington Post – “Just when you thought we had hit rock bottom on all the ways the Internet could snoop on us — no. We’ve sunk even lower. There’s a tactic spreading across the Web named after treatment usually reserved for criminals: fingerprinting. At least a third of the 500 sites Americans visit most often use hidden code to run an identity check on your computer or phone.

Websites from CNN and Best Buy to porn site Xvideos and WebMD are dusting your digital fingerprints by collecting details about your device you can’t easily hide. It doesn’t matter whether you turn on “private browsing” mode, clear tracker cookies or use a virtual private network. Some even use the fact you’ve flagged “do not track” in your browser as a way to fingerprint you. They’re doing it, I suspect, because more of us are taking steps to protect our data. Privacy is an arms race — and we are falling behind.”…