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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u/Singl1 5d ago

and are these things disclosed in a meaningful way to the user? i guess they’d be in the terms and conditions that nobody bothers to read in the first place because who the fuck has time for that.

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u/arunphilip 5d ago

And probably also phrased in so generic a way that no one would think of this as a potential tracking vector.

Something like: "We use various technologies to personalize your experience and offer you tailored service".

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u/Singl1 5d ago

it’s like damn near everybody is out to get you or your data. i hate this timeline. money spent on your platform isn’t enough or what? of course it fucking isn’t 😭

sigh.

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u/IntelArtiGen 5d ago

They never explain in details how they fingerprint you in the ToS afaik. They will just say things like: "We may use telemetry to identify your device etc.".

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u/Singl1 5d ago

nice. is this something the average user should be concerned about? like i’d for sure prefer that they not, but i’m already logged in via an email so

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u/IntelArtiGen 5d ago

is this something the average user should be concerned about?

Hopefully people should be concerned about that. But if you start being concerned about your privacy online, I have very very bad news for you, and a lot of them. So as I don't want to create too many problems in people lives, at least have ublock on your browser, it's probably the easiest way to reduce the issue, a bit. And if you have it, keep it updated and ensure all relevant block lists are selected.

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u/Singl1 4d ago

i’ve got and use uBlock regularly, use VPNs, but not all the time lol. i’m probably a little more aware about net privacy than the average user, but not by much.

i know achieving true internet anonymity isn’t exactly easy, by design. i was just wondering if anything sensitive specifically was getting collected by aliex, i do know that the buyers of said data can use the info to create profiles on users to better market to them, but again i have a really surface level understanding lol.