this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
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In what fucking world is it “normal” or “sensible” to scan your browser extensions to decide how to render a page? Please explain.
I’ve been doing web development for 30 years and I have not once ever had the desire or need to do this.
The reason is fingerprinting. Verrrry old technique. Adtech stuff. You might collect browser extension, webgl information, CPU core count, screen resolution, IP address, reverse dns, locale, headers, user agent, akamai hash, etc. The reason is so that these metrics can then be enriched to build a consumer profile and used in analytics
Thanks, I worked in adtech for a number of years so I’m aware of this use case. I could tell some stories that would likely surprise you at how sophisticated that industry has been for a long time, even as long as 10-15 years ago.
But the parent post specifically said this was “sensible” and maybe “normal” to do this to decide how to render a page. My question was specifically how that claim makes sense at all.
I can only think of reasons that are meant to block you based on what you are using to augment your browsing experience.