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why would my privacy settings mess with this? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by carotte to c/librewolf@lemmy.ml
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TranscriptScreenshot of a pop-up. It reads:

Color Inaccuracies Detected.

We have detected that your browser may have issues with color accuracy.

You may notice subtle visual noise and incorrect colors appear in your skins.

This issue is usually caused by anti-fingerprinting privacy settings in your browser.

Learn how to fix [with a hyperlink to a help page]

this screenshot was taken on Miners Need Cooler Shoes

does anyone know what would cause this precisely? why would anti-fingerprinting mess with the colors i use to edit an image in the browser?

i'd be tempted to brush this off as the website being malicious and lying to get me to deactivate fingerprinting protection, but the website is fully open-source and what they describe happened to me on Piskel (a pixel art editor, which would constantly mess up my colors in subtle but annoying ways)

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[-] jatone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

fingerprinting mechanisms use pixel coloring to help fingerprint you. browsers have implementations that fuzz pixel colors to prevent this fingerprinting often in imperceptible manner. Think shifting pixel alpha values by a random +/- 0.3 values; range was arbitrarily chosen for demonstration purposes.

[-] carotte 6 points 1 month ago

as in, fingerprinting mechanisms use the colors that are in my OS’s color picker? or is it other colors?

[-] jatone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 1 month ago

Every computer will generate different colors due to driver/os/hardware differences when rendering anything. these differences are often imperceptible to the eye by easily grabbed via browser apis. by randomizing the results just a tad it defeats the trackers.

[-] carotte 6 points 1 month ago

oh i see, thank you!

[-] jatone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago

np, i wouldnt worry about it for this website just leave your settings alone until you personally notice an issue. and even then...

[-] DScratch@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

Ok, but how does changing the colour of pixels help identify me?

Is it for tracking the source of screenshots?

[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

It's a two part process. One part happens on your machine. The browser is given a fingerprint to shift colors, and then the trackers can identify you even in a screenshot.

[-] Edie@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Your links don't start with https:// so the Lemmy web interface prepends [instance domain]/post/

[-] carotte 6 points 1 month ago

huh, that’s a strange behaviour. thank you for telling me, it’s fixed now!

[-] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

That's the cover story for when they're implanting false memories

[-] Lyra_Lycan 4 points 1 month ago

I find this interesting also. Enabling fingerprinting resistance a) makes every site light mode by default and b) when ssh-ing into my VMs on Proxmox (LXCs not affected), stops me from sending underscores and other symbols.

[-] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 4 points 1 month ago

because a) your browser does not send anymore which color scheme you prefer and b) probably sets a single keymap or language setting that affect websites that try to grab your keys.

add the proxmox domain to the whitelist and it will be better. there's a pref for it that I can't recall now but mayne it can be configured in this menu too: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-protection-against-fingerprinting#w_how-do-i-disable-this-protection-for-a-website
let me know if it didn't fix it and I'll look up the pref

this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2025
63 points (100.0% liked)

LibreWolf

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Welcome to the official community for LibreWolf.

LibreWolf is designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including a few security improvements. LibreWolf also aims to remove all the telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM. If you have any question please visit our FAQ first: https://librewolf.net/docs/faq/

To learn more or to download the browser visit the website: https://librewolf.net/

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