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We have a small web-poll system we use in a math class before semester begin on voluntary base. On one hand we dont want the students have to register or download something, because of possible lost of poll participants. On the orher hand there are some students who manipulate the poll by sending lot's of junk answers.

Is there a way to identify a user machine over http? Ideas how to create an simple identification?

degressor
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  • If they are all on the same network then all the IP addresses will be the same. –  Nov 30 '16 at 13:14
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    It's not possible to have any level of security without having some sort of login system. You could try using cookies, but they can be cleared or changed, or they could just use a different browser. – raphael75 Nov 30 '16 at 13:17
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    You are looking to do **Browser Fingerprinting**. Check out : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15966812/user-recognition-without-cookies-or-local-storage and/or https://github.com/Valve/fingerprintjs2 – JonSG Nov 30 '16 at 13:19

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Simple: it is not possible to get the users computer name with Javascript. You can get all details about the browser and network. But not more than that.

SilentStorm
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If you are looking for a simple solution just use a cookie with a far future expire marking the device as already voted. However, this is just a simple solution and does not protect you against users with minimal IT skills. You could consolidate the separation by saving a hashed value of their Browser version/os/ip with each vote and you can filter results when counting

Victor Radu
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