{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T21:03:36Z","timestamp":1780002216346,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium Advisory Board","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775001600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PoPETs"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We explore societal awareness and perceptions related to digital fingerprinting, a stateless tracking technology increasingly used for online security, advertising, and fraud prevention, as well as to countermeasures designed to mitigate its impact. Despite its widespread application, user awareness of fingerprinting remains significantly lower compared to other tracking mechanisms, such as third-party cookies. To deepen our understanding of user perceptions, we conducted a study surveying 734 participants to assess their knowledge of fingerprinting, acceptance of its use across different applications (cybersecurity, law enforcement, user experience), and their reactions to browsing inconveniences introduced by countermeasures. Countermeasures examined include privacy-focused browsers (e.g., Tor), browser extensions, and spoofing tools. While these solutions vary in effectiveness, they often compromise usability, resulting in issues such as website breakages and prolonged CAPTCHA challenges. Privacy-conscious users demonstrated greater tolerance for such disruptions, whereas others prioritized convenience over protection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.56553\/popets-2026-0054","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,22]],"date-time":"2026-05-22T23:10:41Z","timestamp":1779491441000},"page":"397-435","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Analyzing Societal Awareness and Perception of Digital Fingerprinting and Fingerprinting Countermeasures"],"prefix":"10.56553","volume":"2026","author":[{"given":"Pascal","family":"Schramm","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Technical University of Munich"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emmanuel","family":"Syrmoudis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Technical University of Munich"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alexandros","family":"Markou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Technical University of Munich"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jens","family":"Grossklags","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Technical University of Munich"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"35752","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4]]},"container-title":["Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies"],"original-title":[],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T20:21:15Z","timestamp":1779999675000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/petsymposium.org\/popets\/2026\/popets-2026-0054.php"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,4]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4]]}},"alternative-id":["10.56553\/popets-2026-0054"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.56553\/popets-2026-0054","relation":{},"ISSN":["2299-0984"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2299-0984","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,4]]}}}