Source code to identify user through browser?

[Gilles]

Hello

I was wondering if some Python module were available to identify a
user through their browser, like it's done on the Panopticlick site:

http://panopticlick.eff.org/

I'd like to ban abusive users, and it seems like a good solution,
since few users will think of installing a different browser, and
there are few mainstream browsers anyway.

Thank you.

 

[Joel Goldstick]

Hello

I was wondering if some Python module were available to identify a
user through their browser, like it's done on the Panopticlick site:

http://panopticlick.eff.org/

I'd like to ban abusive users, and it seems like a good solution,
since few users will think of installing a different browser, and
there are few mainstream browsers anyway.

Thank you.

depending upon the server you are using, there is a request object that
contains information about the user (ip address, and lots of other stuff).
Maybe that will help you.

 

[Carlos Nepomuceno]

From: (e-mail address removed)

Subject: Source code to identify user through browser?
Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2013 15:08:54 +0200
To: (e-mail address removed)

Hello

I was wondering if some Python module were available to identify a
user through their browser, like it's done on the Panopticlick site:

What do you mean by user?

 

[rusi]

What do you mean by user?

Ha! Nice question. Not in direct answer but here's E.W Dijkstra
defining 'user':

[from http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/EWD618.html
]
----------------------------
The computer “user” isn’t a real person of flesh and blood, with
passions and brains. No, he is a mythical figure, and not a very
pleasant one either. A kind of mongrel with money but without taste,
an ugly caricature that is very uninspiring to work for. He is, as a
matter of fact, such an uninspiring idiot that his stupidity alone is
a sufficient explanation for the ugliness of most computer systems.
And oh! Is he uneducated! That is perhaps his most depressing
characteristic. He is equally education-resistant as another equally
mythical bore, “the average programmer”, whose solid stupidity is the
greatest barrier to progress in programming. It is a sad thought that
large sections of computing science are effectively paralyzed by the
narrow-mindedness and other grotesque limitations with which a poor
literature has endowed these influential mythical figures. (Computing
science is not unique in inventing such paralyzing caricatures:
universities all over the world are threatened by the invention of
“the average student”, scientific publishing is severely hampered by
the invention of “the innocent reader” and even “the poor reader”!)

 

[Mark Lawrence]

What do you mean by user?

Ha! Nice question. Not in direct answer but here's E.W Dijkstra
defining 'user':

[from http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/EWD618.html
]
----------------------------
The computer “user” isn’t a real person of flesh and blood, with
passions and brains. No, he is a mythical figure, and not a very
pleasant one either. A kind of mongrel with money but without taste,
an ugly caricature that is very uninspiring to work for. He is, as a
matter of fact, such an uninspiring idiot that his stupidity alone is
a sufficient explanation for the ugliness of most computer systems.
And oh! Is he uneducated! That is perhaps his most depressing
characteristic. He is equally education-resistant as another equally
mythical bore, “the average programmer”, whose solid stupidity is the
greatest barrier to progress in programming. It is a sad thought that
large sections of computing science are effectively paralyzed by the
narrow-mindedness and other grotesque limitations with which a poor
literature has endowed these influential mythical figures. (Computing
science is not unique in inventing such paralyzing caricatures:
universities all over the world are threatened by the invention of
“the average student”, scientific publishing is severely hampered by
the invention of “the innocent reader” and even “the poor reader”!)

Where does the Bastard Operator From Hell fit in this?

--
"Steve is going for the pink ball - and for those of you who are
watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green." Snooker
commentator 'Whispering' Ted Lowe.

Mark Lawrence

 

[rusi]

Ha! Nice question.  Not in direct answer but here's E.W Dijkstra
defining 'user':

[fromhttp://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/EWD618.html
]
----------------------------
The computer �user� isn�t a real person of flesh and blood, with
passions and brains. No, he is a mythical figure, and not a very
pleasant one either. A kind of mongrel with money but without taste,
an ugly caricature that is very uninspiring to work for. He is, as a
matter of fact, such an uninspiring idiot that his stupidity alone is
a sufficient explanation for the ugliness of most computer systems.
And oh! Is he uneducated! That is perhaps his most depressing
characteristic. He is equally education-resistant as another equally
mythical bore, �the average programmer�, whose solid stupidity is the
greatest barrier to progress in programming. It is a sad thought that
large sections of computing science are effectively paralyzed by the
narrow-mindedness and other grotesque limitations with which a poor
literature has endowed these influential mythical figures. (Computing
science is not unique in inventing such paralyzing caricatures:
universities all over the world are threatened by the invention of
�the average student�, scientific publishing is severely hampered by
the invention of �the innocent reader� and even �the poor reader�!)

Where does the Bastard Operator From Hell fit in this?

Yes Dijkstra is quite a devil.
Always thought-provoking and entertaining -- never to be taken too
seriously!

 

[Terry Jan Reedy]

Didn't know he was such a humorist! lol

Although I prefer when he's serious:

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD10xx/EWD1094.html

pythonic summary:
Let S be an finite iterable of numbers (make it not an iterable if one
interprets the conclusion as requiring reiteration) and let n = len(S)
(or len(list(S)) if need be). The if n > 2 and len(set(S)) > 1,
n * min(S) < sum(S) < max(S) # easily shown by induction on n

If the n = 1 or the items in S are all the same,
n*min == sum == n*max

I might call this the 'Averages are not extreme' theorem.

Corollary: if min(s) == 1 and sum(S) > n, then max(S) > 1
'Pigeonhole Principle'

 

[Gilles]

I was wondering if some Python module were available to identify a
user through their browser, like it's done on the Panopticlick site:

http://panopticlick.eff.org/

It appears that flash cookies is a better solution to keep most trolls
away from a forum/blog:

www.stackoverflow.com/questions/216542/

Still, I wish there a browser that could run in real incognito mode,
ie. would only send the minimum amount of infos to the server.