Seeded fingerprints versus a new random draw

A seed is a decision to be the same person tomorrow. A random draw is a decision to be someone else, including on the next lab refresh. Operator tools that reroll canvas for a screenshot are teaching the second decision and calling it hygiene. It is not hygiene. It is a new identity, or a broken one if the cookies stayed put.

I want the words still. Seeded means the noise comes back. Random means it does not.

What we seed on purpose

Canvas noise is OS-biased and stable. Audio noise comes from fp.audioNoise. Client rects get a stable offset. Media device IDs are hashed from mediaDevices.seed. Those surfaces exist to be repeated. If they change while screen metrics, UA, and GPU stay put, consistency checks have something to point at.

The rest of the schema is also a seed in practice. Timezone after exit alignment, hardware fields, and battery should not wander because you were bored.

When a new draw is the honest move

A new authorized account is a new person. New folder. New seed. New cookies. Do not paint a new hash into last month's cookies and call it a refresh. The leftover session is a different failure. This page stays on the paint.

If the job changed and the old identity should retire, retire the profile. Do not randomize one surface and keep the rest.

What randomization is for in other products

Some clouds reroll so a public checker looks different every click. That is a demo. How we read BrowserLeaks is a map, not a reason to shuffle. Pixelscan consistency is also not a verdict you earn by rolling the dice.

We do not publish lab scores. Randomizing until a row turns green is the trophy hunt I refuse.

Stability is the other half

A fingerprint that stays put across launches is the operational test of a seed. Quit. Open the same folder. The measurements should match. If they do not, you do not have a seed. You have a bug or a reroll.

Battery and media device IDs are the surfaces people reroll by accident because they never stored a seed for them. Put them in the same decision.

Cookies do not reroll with the paint

Cookies and localStorage live in the user-data directory. They are the login. A new canvas seed on that directory is a new face on an old session. Sites that bind a hash to a session will see the bind break. That is not cleanliness. That is a collage.

If you need a new person, create a new profile folder. Import nothing from the old cookies unless you meant to move that session. Stencil settings are not a live cookie dump.

Randomizing one surface is the worst version of a new draw. Canvas moves, audio stays, media IDs stay, UA stays. Consistency checks exist for that collage. Seed all of it or seed none of it.

Labs reward shuffle. Work rewards memory.

A public checker looks exciting when the hash changes. A login looks broken when the hash changes. I write for the login. Authorized profiles need memory: the same paint, the same IDs, the same clock story after you quit.

If you want to see a new draw, open a new profile. Do not vandalize the one that already holds a session.

Plugins, voices, and Client Hints are seeds in practice even when we do not call them noise. If those lists reshuffle and canvas stays, you still drew a collage. Seed means the whole schema repeats, not only the hash people screenshot. If you clone a stencil, clone the settings, not a live session, and decide whether the new profile gets a new seed. Two folders with one seed are two cookie stores wearing one face. That can be a stencil. It is not two people.

How I choose

Same authorized person: keep the seed. New authorized person: new seed and a new folder. Lab curiosity: read the panel, do not shuffle the profile you work in.

The parent definition is what browser fingerprinting actually measures. The Browser fingerprinting cluster keeps seed versus random on its own page because competitor outlines treat shuffle as cleanliness.

FAQ

Is rerolling canvas hygiene? No. It is a new face, or a broken one if cookies stayed.

When should I create a new seed? When the profile is supposed to be a different person. New folder, new seed, new cookies.

Can two folders share one seed? Yes, as a stencil. That is one face on two cookie stores. It is not two people.