Topic
User agent
About: User agent is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1744 publications have been published within this topic receiving 34583 citations. The topic is also known as: User agent & User Agent.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
21 Jul 2010
TL;DR: The degree to which modern web browsers are subject to "device fingerprinting" via the version and configuration information that they will transmit to websites upon request is investigated, and what countermeasures may be appropriate to prevent it is discussed.
Abstract: We investigate the degree to which modern web browsers are subject to "device fingerprinting" via the version and configuration information that they will transmit to websites upon request. We implemented one possible fingerprinting algorithm, and collected these fingerprints from a large sample of browsers that visited our test side, panopticlick.eff.org. We observe that the distribution of our fingerprint contains at least 18.1 bits of entropy, meaning that if we pick a browser at random, at best we expect that only one in 286,777 other browsers will share its fingerprint. Among browsers that support Flash or Java, the situation is worse, with the average browser carrying at least 18.8 bits of identifying information. 94.2% of browsers with Flash or Java were unique in our sample.
By observing returning visitors, we estimate how rapidly browser fingerprints might change over time. In our sample, fingerprints changed quite rapidly, but even a simple heuristic was usually able to guess when a fingerprint was an "upgraded" version of a previously observed browser's fingerprint, with 99.1% of guesses correct and a false positive rate of only 0.86%.
We discuss what privacy threat browser fingerprinting poses in practice, and what countermeasures may be appropriate to prevent it. There is a tradeoff between protection against fingerprintability and certain kinds of debuggability, which in current browsers is weighted heavily against privacy. Paradoxically, anti-fingerprinting privacy technologies can be self-defeating if they are not used by a sufficient number of people; we show that some privacy measures currently fall victim to this paradox, but others do not.
955 citations
TL;DR: A review of the development of generic user modeling systems over the past twenty years is given in this article, which describes their purposes, their services within user-adaptive systems, and the different design requirements for research prototypes and commercially deployed servers.
Abstract: The paper reviews the development of generic user modeling systems over the past twenty years. It describes their purposes, their services within user-adaptive systems, and the different design requirements for research prototypes and commercially deployed servers. It discusses the architectures that have been explored so far, namely shell systems that form part of the application, central server systems that communicate with several applications, and possible future user modeling agents that physically follow the user. Several implemented research prototypes and commercial systems are briefly described.
811 citations
Patent•
12 Oct 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, a method and apparatus for mapping address information (e.g., locations denoted by name or address, street addresses, landmarks, etc.) off of disparate sources and onto new or existing maps, are disclosed.
Abstract: A method and apparatus for mapping address information (e.g. locations denoted by name or address, street addresses, landmarks, etc.) off of disparate sources and onto new or existing maps, are disclosed. A mapping component (e.g. a standalone application, a web-browser plug-in, an ActiveX control, a DLL, a COM object, a web object, a part of a an application displaying and/or generating maps, etc.) running on an electronic device (e.g. personal computer, workstation, thin client, PDA, cellular phone, GPS device, etc.) may receive input of address information and relay the received input to a mapping application (e.g. an online mapping service such as Google Maps®, Yahoo! Maps®, Windows Live Search Maps®, MapQuest®, etc.; or a mapping application running locally on a PDA, cell phone, etc.) for plotting on a common map, displayed by a map-display application (e.g. a browser, a web user agent, etc.). A mapping component may have a permanent visibility to the user (e.g. by being a top-most application in a windowed environment, by being present in a portion of the user's desktop that is commonly unobstructed by other applications such as the system tray, by being a widget, by being a control on a browser toolbar, etc.) A mapping component may be a module of a display application. A mapping component may receive user input directly, for example by typing; and/or via the clipboard, for example via a drag-and-drop or copy/paste operation or a pre-determined key combination; and/or via the use of context menus; and/or by any other means supported by the electronic device. A mapping component may aggregate multiple received address information prior to relaying the aggregated address information to a mapping application and/or a map-display application. A mapping component may parse, or otherwise process the location data prior to relaying the location data to a mapping application and/or a map-display application. The user may select an existing map for receiving the input; or, the optimal map for displaying the address information may be selected automatically; or, a mapping service may associate the user with stored maps and select the optimal map for receiving the address information.
728 citations
Patent•
3 Jun 1997
TL;DR: In this paper, a system and method for gathering information relating to a loading time experienced by a user of information over a network is described, where a browser agent initiates the sending of a user HTTP GET request and the browser agent is operable to log a first time corresponding to sending of the userHTTP GET request.
Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for gathering information relating to a loading time experienced by a user of information over a network. A browser agent is sent to a user machine in response to a user request to access a Web page. The browser agent initiates the sending of a user HTTP GET request and the browser agent is operable to log a first time corresponding to the sending of the user HTTP GET request. The browser agent measures a download time interval that is determined according to the difference between the first time and a second time corresponding to the loading of the web page. The browser agent is operative to cause the user machine to send a modified HTTP GET request, wherein the modified HTTP GET request contains a performance parameter indicative of the measured download time interval. Thus, the download time interval experienced by the user is measured and a parameter indicative of the measured download time interval is sent as part of the modified HTTP GET request.
354 citations
Patent•
[...]
16 Nov 1998
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a browser-aware application delivery system that provides Web browser extensions based on server processes rather than on plug-in program modules loaded and installed on a user's machine.
Abstract: Systems, methods, and apparatus (including computer program apparatus) for a browser-aware application delivery system. The System provides World Wide Web browser extensions based on server processes rather than on plug-in program modules loaded and installed on a user's machine. The system operates like a monitor for a user while the user is browsing the web, and enables the user to obtain and interact with context-sensitive services and information based on the user's browsing activity. The system allows the user to add application tools, which are implemented on servers separate from the user's computer. Third parties can easily add tools to the system by registering application services with the system.
314 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 |
| 2020 | 24 |
| 2019 | 30 |
| 2018 | 35 |
| 2017 | 38 |
| 2016 | 42 |