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Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by unixhero on Thursday August 20, 2026 @07:15AM (#49373066)
It's great for shopping. But in the US you have amazon prime. We don't.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by dogman1050 on Thursday August 20, 2026 @07:39AM (#49373253)
I have Prime, but I can't imagine installing the Amazon app either. The website works just fine.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by nntwozz on Thursday August 20, 2026 @07:54AM (#49373380)
This is the way. It's prudent to treat apps with skepticism, it's unfortunate it's come to this.

I study Apple's Privacy Nutrition Labels religiously every time I consider installing an app.

I like the ones with "Data Not Collected".

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by woadwarrior01 on Thursday August 20, 2026 @09:30AM (#49374346)
I'm an app developer and all my apps have the "Data Not Collected" privacy nutrition label. I love the idea, but Apple's enforcement of it is very lackadaisical. I've reported dozens of apps that were blatantly lying on their privacy nutrition labels to Apple and I'm yet to see any such app's nutrition label change.

Here's a good overview of the problem: https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.02658v3

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by voakbasda on Thursday August 20, 2026 @09:57AM (#49374639)
Why have rules (or laws) if they don’t enforce them? Or only enforce them selectively when they feel it necessary, such as when not doing so would threaten your stock price (or re-election campaign)? Maybe I just answered my own question?

Reminds me of meat processing regulations. I can sell my animals whole to buyers through a custom processing exemption, but they must go pick up their meat from the butcher. The law says I cannot pick up and deliver it, but it is trivial to find people advertising that extra service. Reporting them does not result in any obvious action.

In both of our cases, our honesty is a liability in the marketplace, because people are ignorant of such laws (or simply don’t care). Really, they simply want the product that they want, as conveniently as possible. We are then forced to compete in the marketplace with liars and cheats.

I am sure our peers here can find countless examples in other areas where this flavor of dishonesty prevails. Hell, I would love to hear some counter examples, because I cannot help but view this state of affairs as intentional at this point.

The purpose of system is what it does (or, in this case, does not do).

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by otherjason on Thursday August 20, 2026 @10:16AM (#49374892)
The cynical way to look at this is that the purpose of the system (the privacy nutrition label) is to support Apple's carefully-crafted and -marketed image as the most privacy-focused of the tech giants. Actually having enforcement of the contents of said labels would be a nice potential byproduct of that, but that's not strictly required to accomplish the system's purpose.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by nntwozz on Thursday August 20, 2026 @06:16PM (#49381011)
Oh man… that's a rude awakening.

I can't help but feel the whole Apple privacy PR will be blown in the future where some report will come out that Apple has been logging and sharing user data with NSA since 2001.

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by manbash on Thursday August 20, 2026 @08:40AM (#49373824)
With Firefox, yes. I wouldn't fully trust other browsers to care about my privacy.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by AstralSerenity on Thursday August 20, 2026 @09:11AM (#49374157)
Using web apps on Firefox really is the way given its support for uBlock Origin.

Screen real estate is precious on phones, so being able to permanently block "Install our app!" and even entire navigation categories (shorts on LinkedIn) is quite valuable.

Then you can "install" the site on your home screen or simply place it in collection folders so it's sitting ready on your "New Tab" page.

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by akimbostrawman on Friday August 21, 2026 @05:19AM (#49385688)
Firefox the privacy browser that is directly selling all its users searches to Google for decades? Not to mention all its other build in telemetry and ads.

If you want an actual private Firefox Browser use a fork like Mullvad Browser, LibreWolf and Tor Browser.

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by unixhero on Saturday August 22, 2026 @02:09AM (#49397037)
Mozilla with Firefox does not sell and does not have ads. You have downloaded a modified spyware version or have convonced yourself that this is true due to a bad dream. Take more care online is my advice yo you and don't spread false information either.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by akimbostrawman on Sunday August 23, 2026 @05:42AM (#49407403)
>Mozilla with Firefox does not sell and does not have ads.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/sponsor-privacy

https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/mozilla-and-google-sign-...

The only one trying to convince themselves is you...

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by HPsquared on Thursday August 20, 2026 @08:45AM (#49373877)
I think you need the app to use the delivery lockers (which I prefer over home delivery)
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by boobsbr on Thursday August 20, 2026 @09:34AM (#49374385)
AFAIK, the app is just the website in a webview.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by threecheese on Thursday August 20, 2026 @01:37PM (#49377700)
I uninstalled the app recently; despite having layers of ad tracking protection, I would see my Amazon searches appearing in my social media feed in near real time, and this irked me.

I dropped their .com into a Home Screen icon, and this completely stopped (at least as far as I’ve observed). It’s definitely more janky from an experience perspective, but still easier than driving to the store.

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by ianburrell on Thursday August 20, 2026 @02:03PM (#49378039)
Shopping works better on web sites because can open multiple tabs to browse multiple products. Especially important on big stores like Aliexpress and Amazon where need to compare lots of products. Desktop is better for that but mobile browsers are still better than apps.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by embedding-shape on Thursday August 20, 2026 @07:41AM (#49373265)
I don't have Amazon Prime (nor am I in the US) yet use Aliexpress perfectly fine on my mobile phone without using an app. Frankly, I don't understand how the two is related at all?
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by doubled112 on Thursday August 20, 2026 @08:11AM (#49373525)
AliExpress won't allow me to open most pages in the account section on my iPhone. Instead I get a page telling me to install the app.

While browsing, there are also popups offering the app approximately every third link I click.

Unless the situation has changed recently, it's not perfectly fine, it is unusable on purpose.

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by emctech on Thursday August 20, 2026 @08:16AM (#49373575)
AE website on mobile is terrible, they basically force you to use the app. I exclusively use the website on my PC
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by whstl on Thursday August 20, 2026 @08:22AM (#49373650)
So they're pulling a Reddit, basically.

"The app is great because the website is heavily degraded".

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by deepsun on Thursday August 20, 2026 @12:09PM (#49376589)
Reddit is fine, just a small popup at the bottom. Facebook kn the other hand turned off most functions on mobile, e.g. chat. Good thing though if you don't use the chat long enough, friends start using other means of communication.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by pudgywalsh on Thursday August 20, 2026 @12:24PM (#49376793)
Reddit is NOT FINE. They throw up full page modals now telling you to continue in the app.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by embedding-shape on Thursday August 20, 2026 @01:10PM (#49377353)
Soon we'll realize that the experience of using reddit (and other mainstream social media) differs a lot based on what country you're in, and sometimes even the state.

For example, seemingly a bunch of places in Europe/elsewhere has disabled old.reddit.com unless you're logged in, but seemingly a bunch of people in other places can use it just fine. I'm sure what both of you are seeing is both correct, there is just something changing the experience that gets served to each of you.

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by doubled112 on Thursday August 20, 2026 @01:30PM (#49377617)

    Log in to use old Reddit
    
    To keep Reddit safe, accounts are required to access old Reddit. Log in, or continue without an account on reddit.com.
First time I've ever seen it. No clear way to bypass it either.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by Lio on Friday August 21, 2026 @02:16AM (#49384416)
I think it’s a push for either more tracking through login or to push people to more addictive features like endless scrolling and autoplaying videos.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by 312c on Friday August 21, 2026 @12:26PM (#49390442)
https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/1ujtebf/logging_in...

It went into effect 2 months ago, there is no bypass for it by design.

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by whstl on Thursday August 20, 2026 @05:30PM (#49380546)
Haha, yeah. Reddit for the longest time hasn't allowed me to browse certain subreddits without the app. I basically ignore search results from it.

As the sibling poster mentioned, might depend on location, but it DOES happen.

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by Ntrails on Thursday August 20, 2026 @08:39AM (#49373819)
I just request the desktop site, it's fine
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by coldtea on Thursday August 20, 2026 @09:56AM (#49374617)
Both are web stores. Both have websites AND apps.

They are compared / contrasted. Nobody is saying one is concretely related to the other.

Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by fragmede on Thursday August 20, 2026 @07:34AM (#49373203)
Where is "we"?
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by ngl999 on Thursday August 20, 2026 @07:48AM (#49373334)
Likely the place where people are "willing to trade privacy for convenience", according to Baidu's CEO.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by stinos on Thursday August 20, 2026 @10:50AM (#49375434)
I always wonder if it's worth it. Like: is it actually convenient, or is it 'solving' inconveniences which actually do not exist or didn't exist before using the service? I have never used Prime or AliExpress but also don't consider our typical shopping very inconvenient. And the most inconvenient parts are actually the ones which seem necessary to to get the proper goods (from past weeks: vegetables/fruits/shoes - it's not really possible to order that online and get exactly what we want). And everything else is available from other webshops.
Re:AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that break... by rcruzeiro on Thursday August 20, 2026 @08:15AM (#49373560)
According to their profile: Norway