Study: 'Audio Fingerprinting' Being Used To Track Web Users
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A study from Princeton University has found a new technique being used to take privacy away from internet users.
The new technique is based on fingerprinting a machine's audio stack "via the AudioContext API."
Sound complicated? Consumerist breaks down the tech jargon, explaining that trackers are listening to you: "not to what you do, exactly, but to what you use."
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Computers make noise that users cannot hear. What trackers do, in order to identify a particular machine, is add a unique sound into the noises that the computer already makes. You won't be able to hear it, but a specially designed software can.
Consumerist explains that "in order to track you by the audio fingerprint your device makes, a script checks for the existence of certain audio-related code and then drops in a tiny extra bit of information, to create a unique fingerprint."
Researchers created a website where you can see your computer's audio fingerprint.