<![CDATA[[Solved] Still being tracked when using Opera VPN]]>Hi,
I've found this article:
https://gist.github.com/spaze/558b7c4cd81afa7c857381254ae7bd10
in which Mr. Spacek says, that the browser based VPN generates a STATIC (!) Device-ID which can be used for tracking. I already realized that youtube recognizes my browser ...
Can an Opera official please answer me, if Opera is willing to work on a fix for this?
Thanks.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/topic/19788/solved-still-being-tracked-when-using-opera-vpnRSS for NodeTue, 12 May 2026 17:08:09 GMTSun, 19 Mar 2017 19:16:06 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to [Solved] Still being tracked when using Opera VPN on Thu, 23 Mar 2017 14:34:10 GMT]]>@ cubot
where did you hear me shout? I just WROTE my concerns. I think you are the one who is a bit aggressive here.
And I know that Opera VPN is only browser based not a systemwide VPN.

@ leocg and joshl
Please excuse me. You were right. I indeed found a old cookie which Ccleaner AUTOMATICALLY had excluded. I deleted it.

And also I got a very competent and detailed answer from Mr. Wilton-Jones from the Opera support.
I paste it here for everyone who has questions about Opera VPN:

Hi,

Thanks for your mail.

Google probably recognises you because you visited the Google site
before enabling the VPN, and it set a cookie to use for identification.
You can clear or disable cookies in the settings. You can also start a
private tab and enable VPN in it, so that none of your old cookies will
be used.

Note that Google (and other websites) may also recognise your browser's
language setting. For example, if your browser language is set to
German, and you enable VPN with your location set to Canada, websites
may still give you German versions of their sites or German search
results, just because of your browser's language setting - not because
they have actually recognised you. If you care about this (it has no
privacy implications, and is actually useful to have websites work in
your chosen languages) you can change your browser language in the
settings. Opera menu - Settings - Browser - Languages - Specify your
preferred languages for webpages.

your browser VPN generates a STATIC (!) Device-ID which can be used for tracking

The Device-ID cannot be seen by websites. It is used only by the
SurfEasy VPN server, eg. so that it can see that it granted permission
for your browser to use the VPN. If you wanted to, you can clear theDevice-ID (it will generate a new one next time you use the VPN) using
Opera menu - More tools - Clear browsing data - Third party services
data. (Note that this will make it very slightly slower when
reconnecting to the VPN, since it will need to generate the new ID.) You
can see more about how SurfEasy uses the subscriber ID in their privacy
policy here:
https://www.surfeasy.com/privacy_policy/

Hope this clears things up for you.

--
Tarquin Wilton-Jones
Security Team
Opera Software

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/117419https://forums.opera.com/post/117419Thu, 23 Mar 2017 14:34:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [Solved] Still being tracked when using Opera VPN on Wed, 22 Mar 2017 23:59:05 GMT]]>@ bengalfire:

opera is neither tor nor tails.

opera's web proxy services cannot provide full vpn functionality.

please learn before you shout around.

my 2 centimes...

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/117354https://forums.opera.com/post/117354Wed, 22 Mar 2017 23:59:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [Solved] Still being tracked when using Opera VPN on Wed, 22 Mar 2017 23:17:46 GMT]]>

you obviously didn't understand what I meant or what's described in the article.

Maybe you could try to explain it. Opera says in their privacy policy that they use a unique ID linked to the computer/installation so I don't see the point.

Also, you didn't answer the question about Youtube recognizing your browser.

It's really the virtually generated Device ID.

And how a site could know and access an information that only makes sense to Opera? It doesn't seem to make sense to me.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/117349https://forums.opera.com/post/117349Wed, 22 Mar 2017 23:17:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [Solved] Still being tracked when using Opera VPN on Wed, 22 Mar 2017 18:54:38 GMT]]>@leocg
you obviously didn't understand what I meant or what's described in the article. Sorry.
And yes there needs to be betterment to the current so called VPN.

@joshl
Nope, I delete my cookies after each surfseason with great care. That can't be the reason. It's really the virtually generated Device ID.

Anyways thanks for your answers.

Meanwhile I mailed to the Opera support about this issue.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/117327https://forums.opera.com/post/117327Wed, 22 Mar 2017 18:54:38 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [Solved] Still being tracked when using Opera VPN on Wed, 22 Mar 2017 08:33:54 GMT]]>

I already realized that youtube recognizes my browser ...

It's probably cookies.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/117299https://forums.opera.com/post/117299Wed, 22 Mar 2017 08:33:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [Solved] Still being tracked when using Opera VPN on Sun, 19 Mar 2017 20:19:27 GMT]]>

the browser based VPN generates a STATIC (!) Device-ID which can be used for tracking

https://www.opera.com/privacy

I already realized that youtube recognizes my browser

What do you mean?

if Opera is willing to work on a fix for this?

I don't think there is something to be fixed.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/117186https://forums.opera.com/post/117186Sun, 19 Mar 2017 20:19:27 GMT