Geek asks and answers

How does panopticlick detect fonts in a browser?

You can determine if a particular font is installed or not by checking if the text in this font has a different size than regular text ( source ),

But panopticlick.eff.org seems to get my complete list, are they just checking everything they know? I do not see this information in the HTTP request, is there something in the DOM, can I request a list of available fonts?

+3
source share
1 answer

Panopticlick uses Flash to list the fonts installed on the client computer.

In ActionScript:

var installedFonts = TextField.getFontList();
getURL('javascript:flashFontList("' + escape(installedFonts) + '")', '_self');
+4
source

More articles:


All Articles