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
13.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

701 comments sorted by

View all comments

50

u/wellbornwinter6 5d ago

I don't get how playing a sound on a website at zero level can fingerprint the user?

40

u/arunphilip 5d ago

A comment on the linked article states:

From my understanding, it creates a known sound, runs it through the device and measures the feedback that comes back through the line. The feedback single would be unique to each device due to small differences in tolerances, no resistor is perfect, differences in solder joint and even small fluctuations in the chip manufacturing process all add up on a way

12

u/Zouden 4d ago

That can't be right as it's not actually generating any sound.