Will duplicate laptops have an identical digital fingerprint?

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Ming the Merciless

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I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong section. My question: If I buy 2 identical laptops/computers/etc. and do not change a thing out of the box (leave them at stock settings) will they have the same digital fingerprint/browser fingerprint/etc.?
 
No they wont.

To start both will have a different MAC address's and a different IP address's so it will be easy to tell one from the other.


I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong section. My question: If I buy 2 identical laptops/computers/etc. and do not change a thing out of the box (leave them at stock settings) will they have the same digital fingerprint/browser fingerprint/etc.?
 
No they wont.

To start both will have a different MAC address's and a different IP address's so it will be easy to tell one from the other.

The IP will be the same, the ip in the network will be different like 192.168.2.x but if you go to a site with both laptops, both will show the same IP adress
 
IP address is not the issue. I have many different IP's. I am just curious if I buy duplicate laptops (lets say 5) and I log on each one with a different IP will they have the same fingerprint.... since in essence they have the same browser identifiers.
 
No the hardware serial numbers are different, so you will have a different MAC address.
MAC addresses are most often assigned by the manufacturer of a network interface card (NIC) and are stored in its hardware, such as the card's read-only memory or some other firmware mechanism.
 
Every piece of network technology has a unique MAC identifier. So even if you have two identical items, they will be different based on their MAC numbers.
 
Every piece of network technology has a unique MAC identifier. So even if you have two identical items, they will be different based on their MAC numbers.
Gotcha....basically. If I am trying to access a particular website and they OBVIOUSLY are identifying me by my browser/device fingerprint, by using a new device, even if duplicate (same brand, etc) it will look like a new device to said site. correct?
 
How will any website know what hardware is connecting to them
they only know certain information that is related to screen size, agents etc

They dont know you are pulling the head of it in front of a Sony Vaio, unless you
download the software they can analyse with it.

As everyone has said before MAC address is unique in every PC, I could explain why but its pointless
and boring haha
 
MAC addresses can be spoofed / changed by software temporarily (ie goes back to hardware original on reboot)

Even on identical hardware the serial# for motherboard, chipset, bios, graphics etc are all different. If your windows install can record the differences, then they are always potentially available to anyone that wants to work to develop the software.

G can be your friend!

Code:
http://superuser.com/questions/452964/how-to-acquire-unique-hardware-id-of-my-computer
 
MAC addresses aren't available to a website.
Everyone posting about IP addresses and MAC addresses are morons. Your problem would be with cookies.
 
Use different browsers, different browser versions, I think sites can see screen resolution but I'm not 100% sure. And different proxies.
 
Yes that is true, but you can still uniquely identify each laptop, partly due to the MAC address and other factors. So your answer implies that they will be seen as the same, which is NOT correct.

Please do not answer questions for the sake of it. Only answer if you actually know what your talking about.

The IP will be the same, the ip in the network will be different like 192.168.2.x but if you go to a site with both laptops, both will show the same IP adress
 
Yes that is true, but you can still uniquely identify each laptop, partly due to the MAC address and other factors. So your answer implies that they will be seen as the same, which is NOT correct.

Please do not answer questions for the sake of it. Only answer if you actually know what your talking about.

Perhaps you should practice what you preach.
The MAC address will not be identifiable by a website.
 
True, but it is still possible to identify each laptop from one another in less than 5 seconds by reading the headers passed, which will show the mac address and other info.

If both computers connect to same provider, both show the same IP address.
 
FYI I do practice what I say.

I am an experienced network engineer and CISCO qualified.
So I do actually know routing and how the internet actually works from the ground up.
Also I spent several years in IT security, and credited by US-CERT for a vulnerability.

Strings can be written to a cookie to identify visitors mac addresses there are other methods, that I will not speak about here.

If you are on a Local Area Network, those on the internet can't see your MAC address directly, (but still possible if you know what your doing ) because you are connected via NAT, and only the router gets your MAC address via an ARP request to complete the connection. But with a direct internet connection (eg no router), the site needs to know your MAC address to complete the linkage, and can issue an ARP directly to you to find it out. ARP is the protocol that maps IP addresses to MAC addresses so data can connect to whatever your trying to link and pass data to.

Try not to be a prick, accept your wrong and move on.
Next in line please....

Anyway what would an Account Coordinator who works for Search Discovery, Inc. in Atlanta, know about routing, mac address and stuff?


Perhaps you should practice what you preach.
The MAC address will not be identifiable by a website.
 
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