AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that breaks Bluetooth multipoint

Posted by emctech 12 hours ago

AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that breaks Bluetooth multipoint(blog.laserphile.com)

802 points | 271 commentspage 4

hoppp 7 hours ago|

Are you not required to grant an explicit permission for it to access audio? If not that is highly disturbing.

mdavidn 5 hours ago||

I notice this all of the time on sites with ads. I use AirPods to listen to music on my phone at work. Opening websites on my Mac routinely steals the AirPod connection but plays nothing audible.

fg137 6 hours ago||

This at least partially contributed to a sleep related Firefox bug on Windows:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1863193

dzonga 3 hours ago||

I think x.com does this too - haven't been able to dig deeper.

prima-facie 7 hours ago||

This is not limited to Bluetooth in any way. In pavucontrol I can see Firefox outputting audio when on AliExpress even though nothing is playing. The uBlock filter fixed it.

ErrorNoBrain 7 hours ago|

> The uBlock filter fixed it.

what filter ?

prima-facie 7 hours ago||

From the article:

To block the scripts open the uBlock dashboard, select My filters, and add:

    ! AliExpress AWSC fingerprinting scripts
    ||assets.aliexpress-media.com/g/AWSC/uab/*/collina.js$script,domain=aliexpress.com
    ||assets.aliexpress-media.com/g/AWSC/fireyejs/*/fireyejs.js$script,domain=aliexpress.com

tecleandor 7 hours ago||

That could explain the multipoint problems I've had in the last weeks, where audio would get "stuck" to one of my devices even when (apparently) nothing is playing.

lxgr 7 hours ago|

I've had these issues on and off as early as 10 years ago when I got my first multipoint headphones.

big_dave212 7 hours ago||

Trying to debug this as a normal user is basically hopeless, you would never think to suspect a shopping tab. Glad someone did the legwork.

emctech 7 hours ago|

It just annoyed me so much that it was interrupting my music!

gaudystead 3 hours ago||

Hell hath no fury like an inconvenienced power user.

goodpoint 10 hours ago||

90% of this stuff should be illegal

__MatrixMan__ 6 hours ago||

Bluetooth is such a mess. You know what didn't have this problem? Cables.

aembleton 2 hours ago|

Also, non-multipoint Bluetooth.

CTDOCodebases 11 hours ago|

They have been doing this for months.

No sound playing but the audio would change like the microphone was being activated. I checked permissions to make sure there was no mic access and figured that they were fingerprinting.

emctech 11 hours ago|

I had noticed it before but I was browsing AE a lot today and i got fed up with it. What browser and OS are you using?

CTDOCodebases 10 hours ago||

It was happening when I was using Chrome on iPhone and Windows 11 with Chrome. I can't remember what was causing it since the headphones (Bose Quietcomfort SE) are synced with both devices. For the last couple of months I've been using Android and I haven't noticed it. The headphones seem to work better with Android. IOS is a bit weird with sharing them with my PC.

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