Fingerprinting
Unlike desktop and mobile apps, websites cannot access your hardware ID (HWID) because web browsers like Chrome and Firefox impose heavy restrictions on what websites are allowed to access on your computer.
However, there are workarounds that websites can use. In web lingo, this is called "fingerprinting", where websites can identify you based on certain characteristics of your web browser, even if you make new accounts.
Ban Decision Factor: Medium
It's hard to say how much fingerprinting plays a role when a ban is decided. This is because fingerprinting isn't perfect, even if you don't take steps to avoid it.
Also, fingerprinting isn't itself proof that you're using an assistant. It's simply a technique websites use to determine which accounts are used by the same person. If you use an assistant on one account but not on another, this won't always mean the other account will get banned, simply due to association.
Avoidances
To reduce fingerprinting risk, keep accounts isolated and avoid standing out.
Create a separate Chrome profile
It's recommended to create another Chrome profile and only use that for playing. This keeps cookies, site data, and extensions isolated from your main browsing.
Note: a separate profile does not give you a new device fingerprint. Things like canvas, WebGL, fonts, and GPU signals are still from the same machine.
Here's a tutorial on how to create a new Chrome profile.
Clear your Website Data
Website data includes things like cookies, local storage, and IndexedDb. Websites can easily generate a unique ID and store them in any of these places and use it to ID you, even if you switch accounts.
In other words, clicking "log out" is not enough. You have to clear your website data every time you switch accounts.
In Chrome:
- Click the site info icon beside the URL, then Cookies and site data.
- Click Manage on-device site data.
- Click the trash icon next to each domain listed (e.g.
chess.comandwww.chess.com).
Step 1: open Cookies and site dataStep 2: Manage on-device site dataStep 3: delete each domain
Note:
- There can be more than one domain e.g.
website.comandwww.website.com. Delete both. - Even though the menu says "cookies", this removes other site data too (local storage, etc.).
Use a VPN
Your IP address can be used to link accounts. A popular VPN reduces that signal, but it's far from enough on its own. Prefer a system VPN app with auto-connect over a browser-extension-only setup when you can.
Install any VPN browser tools on your separate Chrome profile only.
Privacy Enhancing Extensions
These can help in some cases, but they aren't magic, and some can make you look more unusual if sites are looking for privacy tooling.
WebRTC leak protection
WebRTC can expose your real IP even while a VPN is connected. That's a side effect of how WebRTC gathers network candidates, not a leftover bug.
Use your VPN's built-in WebRTC protection if it has one. If not, install WebRTC Control (it disables WebRTC). Either way, run the leak test. You want No Leak:
WebRTC leak test showing No Leak
Note:
- Fully blocking WebRTC means sites that use voice-chat in the browser (like Discord) won't work. This is why it helps to have this on a separate Chrome profile.
Canvas Blocker (optional)
Websites can use HTML Canvas to help identify your browser. Noise-based blockers try to break that by altering canvas output.
Be careful: randomizing the fingerprint every time can itself look suspicious to modern detection. If you use this, prefer a stable/fixed noise mode for the profile rather than per-refresh randomization, and know that sophisticated systems may still notice you're using a blocker. Skipping this extension is reasonable.
User-Agent Switcher (optional, use carefully)
Your User-Agent (and Client Hints on modern Chrome) describe your browser/OS to websites. Spoofing them only helps if the rest of your fingerprint still matches.
If you use this extension:
- Keep the spoofed OS/browser aligned with your real machine (don't claim Windows if you're on Mac).
- Prefer a common Chrome build for your actual OS.
- Don't randomize per page.
You can check how identifiable you look at Am I Unique. Being unique overall is normal. What matters is not introducing obvious mismatches.