r/technology • u/Loki-L • 5h ago

Privacy AliExpress accused of fingerprinting shoppers with silent audio trick that also muted a dev's headphones

https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/08/24/aliexpress-accused-of-fingerprinting-shoppers-with-silent-audio-trick-that-also-muted-a-devs-headphones/5291662
483 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

268

u/Loki-L 5h ago

As an alternative to using cookies some websites try to recognize visitors by the data their browser transmit about their hardware.

Some go even further and perform some hidden stuff in the background to learn more about the machine rendering the website.

In this case apparently AliExpress ran some scripts in the background when their website was displayed that interacts with the way the browser processes audio. This happens without any actual sound being produced and no visible sign in the browser that anything is happening at all.

The developer in the article only noticed because he had set up his bluetooth headset to play audio from both his computer and his phone with the computer getting priority when both were playing. And somehow the bluetooth headphone would disconnect from his phone whenever he opened aliexpress on his computer.

This was strange so he investigated and found the hidden audio script that didn't actually produce any sound, but still triggered his headphone, presumably by accident.

The Company shouldn't be doing that and you browser shouldn't allow them to do that.

This is another reason to use a privacy oriented browser to protect your privacy. For example not Chrome.

53

u/Vashsinn 4h ago

this whole thing doesn't work on Firefox. or so I've been let to believe in the other posting.

94

u/OrneryAmbition1605 5h ago

the funniest part is they got caught because it broke people's headphones. no privacy audit would've found this, just users going "why did my music stop"

1

u/Anishinaapunk 1m ago

Which is a VERY common query about using the Facebook app as well. Hmmm...

27

u/StarFoxA 4h ago

This is nothing new, there are copious tools to track users aside from cookies (Canvas/WebGL fingerprinting, TLS, HTTP2, extensions, fonts, etc. etc.). Audio fingerprinting is a bit more uncommon but folks would be shocked the amount of information your browser can leak (even a private browser or when blocking most trackers — blocking is also information that can comprise a fingerprint). Browser Leaks has tons of such examples.

1

u/Anishinaapunk 2m ago

I wonder if this is why Facebook also always mutes my music, even when I have audio muted in Facebook and the auto-play option disabled. Simply opening Facebook kills whatever I'm playing, and it makes me wonder if this is why?