I'm curious about what kind of information the builder of a basic forum web app can gather from its users. For this app, you only need an email to sign up, and it doesn't require verification. Users can post messages and respond to others, but there are no user profiles or direct messaging features. You can share links and images, but that's about it. Can the app developer track users' locations, or monitor browsing activity on the same browser? I'm wondering what insights they might have about who is clicking links or logging in, and if I should be worried about my privacy as a user.
1 Answer
Websites can pick up a surprising amount of info just from visits. For location, while they can't usually get an exact address, they can often determine a city or region based on your IP address. If you're curious about what your browser might reveal, check out amiunique.org for a good overview of your fingerprint. It might clarify how much of your data is available.
So, does this mean a user can't pretend to be someone else there since the developer would see different fingerprints?