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[!!!][FEATURE] Enrich fingerprint hash with IP address
Tracking purely based on device fingerprinting lead to some issues, namely mobile browsers working more towards sandboxing requests so that device hashes end up being the same across the same line of devices. This makes individual tracking unreliable and in the case of Lux leads to some leads that contain several different people in them. This change enriches the fingerprint with the users IP address and hashes it again, leading to a more unique identification value. Negative impact of this change: * (BREAKING) Previously identified users can't be identified anymore, as the calculated fingerprint value has changed. * Compared to before, we now create _more_ unique users than before, as IP addresses (usually) change on the regular for home connections or when switching wi-fi/cellular networks. Related: https://projekte.in2code.de/issues/67221
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@pixeldesu @einpraegsam
I am very surprised about such a breaking change. All fingerprints become useless at a stroke.
How about an option for the old behavior?
It would also be possible to find the user based on the hash without IP in the fingerprints and then update the hash with IP on the fly, right? Of course, incorrect assignments are possible, but they exist anyway.
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Yes, that's correct. Maybe @lefloe can explain the breaking changes here.
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Thanks for your feedback. We are aware of the data loss. Due to this update. Nevertheless, we had to evaluate several risks:
We understand that breaking changes cause inconveniences, and we try to avoid these.
But as Web tracking is a dynamic field, we'll need to adjust our methods accordingly.