"When you install Vivaldi browser, each installation profile is assigned a unique user ID that is stored on your computer. Vivaldi will send a message using HTTPS directly to our servers located in Iceland every 24 hours containing this ID, version, cpu architecture, screen resolution and time since last message. We anonymize the IP address of Vivaldi users by removing the last octet of the IP address from your Vivaldi client then we store the resolved approximate location after using a local geoip lookup. The purpose of this collection is to determine the total number of active users and their geographical distribution."
Is this information enough for them to uniquely identify and track each user?
Hey, here's Gaëlle Medeiros-Logeay, Data Protection Officer at Vivaldi.
The data we collect is not personally identifiable, and we try to keep it as minimal as possible. :)
We're not in the business of collecting data, and we do not sell them to advertisers like others do. The collected data helps us to understand where most of our users come from.
Our stats show us which country our users are located in and nothing more. We don't do data profiling. We just look at trends.
We don't see any browsing history, it's all stored locally so that only you can see your own browsing history. If you use Sync, then the data is encrypted.
> The data we collect is not personally identifiable, and we try to keep it as minimal as possible. :)
Hey Gaëlle!
Huh? Unique ID + /24 + screen resolution is the opposite of "not personally identifiable". You may not use it that way yet, but that's only because no one applied enough incentive or force yet.
That is an interesting site. It made me think that the best way to avoid this tracking is to have the most common OS with the most common Browser and all default settings.
I am a linux and firefox user in Brazil. I am probably very easy to track combining this information with my geolocation and ISP.
Is there a way to opt-out or disable this telemetry? Under privacy laws isn't Vivaldi supposed to give users a choice: whether they want to be tracked or not?
1) each installation profile is assigned a unique user ID that is stored on your computer
2) every 24 hours it sends IP, ID, version, cpu architecture, screen resolution and time since last message
3) then we store the resolved approximate location after using a local geoip lookup
So, what they have for each ID:
approximate location, CPU architecture, screen resolution. They can easily know places you visited.
From Quant's privacy policy: "French law makes it mandatory to keep some connection data (e.g. user ID used, URL or position, nature of the operation, time…) for one year."
To be exact, it is 'the IP address of Vivaldi users by removing the last octet of the IP address'.
It's true that they can still approximate location based on that. But unless you're travelling a lot so that you've many locations in their record, it's impossible for them to identify you.
Statistically, if they geolocate you once per 24h, they will find you either at home or at work. Once both locations are known, determining which is which does not strike me as very hard.
If you are working in any bigger company they have more than a C class, so they can identify company. If you go there frequently you are employee. You can infer how often /24 changes, means you are traveling or even commuting between work and home. You can't infer exact location but some close area can be guessed. They have a set of data for bigger group so they can create highly probable guesses what people may be doing and where they are.
Identifying a user does not have to mean that they can know your home address and name. Identification can mean that one is able to determine whether a user is the same across two separate instances of usage/visit.
"When you install Vivaldi browser, each installation profile is assigned a unique user ID that is stored on your computer. Vivaldi will send a message using HTTPS directly to our servers located in Iceland every 24 hours containing this ID, version, cpu architecture, screen resolution and time since last message. We anonymize the IP address of Vivaldi users by removing the last octet of the IP address from your Vivaldi client then we store the resolved approximate location after using a local geoip lookup. The purpose of this collection is to determine the total number of active users and their geographical distribution."
Is this information enough for them to uniquely identify and track each user?