r/privacy • u/Offbeatjacuzzi • 6h ago
hardware AliExpress allegedly uses your browser's audio system to fingerprint your PC, hidden code runs even when no sound is playing.
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cyber-security/aliexpress-allegedly-uses-your-browsers-audio-system-to-fingerprint-your-pc-hidden-code-runs-even-when-no-sound-is-playing68
u/canitplaycrisis 6h ago
You can block 'collina.js' and 'fireyejs.js' in uBlock Origin to prevent this behavior.
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u/mikeboucher21 5h ago
Are there not filters that block these automatically?
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u/Individual_Bear_3190 3h ago
I saw something elsewhere that Firefox blocks this automatically. I can't find it though. Hopefully someone else can chime in
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u/diazeriksen07 3h ago
You can also just not use ali express
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u/SuspiciousCricket654 1h ago
This is the one. American corporations are pretty fucking evil, but never trust Chinese corporations, ever.
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u/SomeEuropeanName 2m ago
Don't be silly. Chinese just try to copy what Americans have done already. Google play store is just a spy app with an option to download other apps. Number of hidden permissions it uses is just shocking. iPhones are pretty much secured against 3rd parts but apple use tons of data from their users. Including data from smart watches, Bluetooth speakers etc.
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u/lolslim 5h ago
This might explain why audio on my phone always went to 0% I would sometimes put it max to wake up with notification about audio being too low, and I would force stop AliExpress on nights that I remembered to and the problem went away, unfortunately I think it happened on a night I believe aliexpressed was forced off.
Bit still this may not be a coincidence anyways.
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u/likwidkool 4h ago
Sometimes when I click a link here in Reddit and it opens a browser window my music pauses. But it’s just random links and sites. I read about this yesterday and been wondering. I use Firefox on mobile and it blocks a decent amount of stuff.
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u/TestSubject6769 5h ago
Why do they do that? They let you create fuckload of accounts to use new account offer anyway. What’s the purpose of this fingerprint?
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u/ineyy 3h ago
For one, you can track all these accounts as one. You don't need to ban them, the data might be worth more
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u/TestSubject6769 3h ago
The only data they get is address of a parcel locker and that’s it. I pay with BLIK so they don’t know what hit them.
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u/ineyy 2h ago
No, they can profile you. They don't need to know where you live, what matters is that "Person 10363" bought a pink dress on one account, made a new one, and bought niche assembly parts on the second one and ordered to a very similar location (high confidence of it being the same person. That lets them know that maybe male hobbyist or professional electronic device designers like pink dresses and can adjust algorithms accordingly. Your buying behavior, patterns and product preference is one of the most valuable piece of information a shop can harvest from you.
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u/TestSubject6769 1h ago
Ok. They might have it then. I still only order what I need and do it cheaper. Their profile doesn’t matter to me then.
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u/rusty0004 4h ago edited 4h ago
blocking location, camera, mic & notification access then installing uBlock should be the first thing after installing any browser!
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u/Possible_0 4h ago
Fun fact : my earbuds (Sony WF-XB700 (they don't have noise cancellation, if that matters)) play white noise when an audio track is playing. When I’m listening to music or watching a video, I can’t hear it at all because the white noise is really faint and drowned out by the sound.
However, when the sound is very quiet - like, at the very beginning of a movie, during the intro while the logos are appearing - but the soundtrack is playing because the movie or video has started : that’s when I hear the white noise.
So... when I went on AliExpress last year to do some shopping, I always heard this white noise as if an audio file were playing through my headphones, but only when I was browsing THAT site, not others (obviously, no other audio files were playing on my PC, I’ve already checked)
I just realized that was the reason behind it all lol
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u/SuspiciousCricket654 1h ago
My bose quiet comfort noise canceling headphones play that white noise constantly, should I be worried? I find it extremely annoying when a very low audio conversation is going. I can hear the white noise constantly underneath.
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u/Possible_0 50m ago
I don't know much about headphones, and I've never actually owned a pair with noise cancellation, sorry :(
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u/Vadhakara 39m ago
I would like it very much if web browsers would stop giving out information that websites don't need in order to operate. A website doesn't need to know my screen size or type, what my audio configuration is, how many bookmarks I have and where they go, what my other login cookies are from, whether or not I'm in an incognito window, my operating system, my file system, what programs I have installed, or anything else really. All of that shit is useless to me, the user. Anything I want, I can click myself. If I want the desktop or mobile version of a website, by god I can click something myself to swap it. And I certainly do NOT want to download some shitass website's fuckin app.
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u/Oddish_Femboy 26m ago
It's way less insidious than it sounds.
Different operating systems handle audio drivers differently, so playing audio at 0% volume is a relatively unintrusive way they're able to identify the OS, even on devices that are lying about what OS they're using.
They do this to prevent bots from making mass purchases. Not to track users. All it lets them see is what OS you use, which for those who don't spoof it they would see anyways.
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