Today around 12:00pm EDT, a post was uploaded to r/whenthe by u/concussionmaker_91 about how despite their multiple privacy measures, Reddit was still able to ping their location and show them an ad about a business in close proximity to their house. Then, in less than 2 hours after the post when live, their year old account was permanently banned. Redditors in the comment section used a website called SnooSnoop to see if this account has done anything malicious in the past that may be grounds for a ban only to find nothing.

I don’t think this is a mere coincidence and some comments I read on the post may be there to dismiss the situation.

I’m currently working on archiving the post and comments in case Reddit decides to try and erase this entire situation from the web, I’ll attach the files when I do.

  • Prove_your_argument@piefed.socialEnglish
    24·
    10 hours ago

    If they can identify the user’s computer, they can cross reference against all the other tracking metadata available. Since they know the browser down to the individual, they also know the predominant IP of said browser and can link your actions from before and after the vpn/proxy account was created.

    As long as javascript is running they can track your mouse movement, which is similar to people’s gait when they walk. it’s unique, it’s identifiable. You can probably fuck with them by using a trackball on one profile, but once they link that trackball movement to your profile with other metadatas then the cat is out of the bag and you’re permanently known to Reddit and whoever it sells it’s data to.

    As much as people will claim “just disable javascript!” - you’ll find that you practically cannot use the internet without it… and having JS disabled makes your fingerprint even more unique as few disable it carte blanche.

    Basically, once they have a shadow profile of who you are it’s just a matter of time for them to link any account created to it. I suspect almost everybody’s shadow profile is quite complete.

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
      51·
      6 hours ago

      As long as javascript is running they can track your mouse movement, which is similar to people’s gait when they walk.

      Gonna need a source or a reference for that second part. Yes, I’m very aware that your mouse movement can be tracked, so we can skip that part.

      • leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        51·
        4 hours ago

        Just look up mouse fingerprinting.

        This was one of the first results for me.

        The rest were companies selling user deanonimization solutions that use mouse fingerprinting.