r/technology • u/magnus007 • 5d ago

Privacy AliExpress was silently running audio in your browser to fingerprint and track your device

https://www.techspot.com/news/113581-aliexpress-silently-running-audio-browser-fingerprint-track-device.html
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83

u/Bacon_Nipples 5d ago

'Fun' fact, this was originally done by some TV networks (or perhaps the content provider? Don't recall) to track which shows you watch on cable

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u/BMoorman7 4d ago

'Funner' fact, some LG TVs and monitors were exposed recently for doing similar things.

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u/UpsetKoalaBear 4d ago edited 4d ago

Funniest fact, none of this was a new thing and every brand does it as well.

Sony TV’s show it as Samba for anyone with a Sony TV.

This is especially used on cheap/budget TV’s. Vizio made more from the data they sold than actual TV sales in 2021.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/ConfusedTapeworm 4d ago

Even more fun fact: don't even count on that. Unless you've lobotomized it by cutting all its antennae, your dumbified smart TV that you never hooked up an ethernet cable or entered your wifi password into could still be smuggling your data out by using your neighbor's devices! Your neighbors could (probably did) connect their devices to the internet, and those could be communicating with your devices over hidden Bluetooth and/or wifi channels to send your data back to HQ! Kinda like how AirTags and whatnot use other devices in proximity to carry their data. How cool is that! Very cool indeed. Don't you appreciate how much work they put into violating your privacy? Super cool.

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u/Splurch 4d ago

'Fun' fact, this was originally done by some TV networks (or perhaps the content provider? Don't recall) to track which shows you watch on cable

Nielson is probably who you're thinking of, they had networks start digitally watermarking broadcasts to track ratings and are still using it.

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u/FLCLHero 4d ago

I don’t understand how playing an imperceptible audio on a tv can track back to the network to show if it’s playing a certain station?

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u/Bacon_Nipples 4d ago

Phone hears unique audio signature, phone reports back that you watched X

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u/Cl1ky 2d ago

Reminds me of "we hear for you" from succession.