Articles

Should we rely on browser detection?

This is the sixth and final chapter of “The problem with User-Agent strings “. In the previous chapters, we’ve learned that the User-Agent string is something that web developers should handle with care. Handle with extreme care because it could blow up in your face at any time. But if you knew what you did, you could use […]

The User-Agent Client Hints API

This is the fifth chapter of “The problem with User-Agent strings“. In the previous parts, we examined the history of the User-Agent string and browser vendors’ efforts to reduce its information. Removing details from the User-Agent string made passive fingerprinting much more difficult.  These efforts have been really effective because we are now in a […]

User-Agent reduction

In our fourth chapter of “The problem with User-Agent strings” we learn about some of the privacy advances that browsers have made in the last couple of years. Privacy on the Internet has become much more important over the last decade. All the prominent browser vendors informally agreed to limit the potential user-identifying information in […]