Windows 10: Hundreds of privacy-invading apps using ultrasonic sounds to track you

Borg 386 · May 3, 2017

Gotta admit, pretty damn interesting/inventive....and scary.

A new privacy-busting technique that tracks consumers through the use of ultrasonic tones may have once sounded like the stuff of science fiction novels, but today it's reality.

These near-silent tones can't be picked up by the human ear, but there are apps in your phone that are always listening for them. This technology is called ultrasonic cross-device tracking, and it works by emitting high-frequency tones in advertisements and billboards, web pages, and across brick-and-mortar retail outlets or sports stadiums.

Apps with access to your phone's microphone can pick up these tones and build up a profile about what you've seen, where, and in some cases even the websites you've visited.

The technology is still in its infancy, but it's growing in popularity.

In the past year, researchers found 234 Android apps that include the ability to listen for ultrasonic tones "without the user's knowledge," one paper said.
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Hundreds of privacy-invading apps are using ultrasonic sounds to track you | ZDNet

Geoff Daniell · May 7, 2017

This in spite of deliberately disabling the microphone for all apps?

:)

Entegy · May 7, 2017

Force location remotely (Find my phone)

And then Microsoft is sued for forcing location services to be on and invading your privacy.

If you want to use features that use your location, you must keep location services on.

picture(2) · May 7, 2017

Windows hello invades privacy

Can you provide succinct information that online activity can still function without windows hello, because some of us think the idea is creepy, biased and compromises our ability to have privacy?

Borg 386 · May 7, 2017

This in spite of deliberately disabling the microphone for all apps?
Click to expand...

The article says you can't be sure if the app is listening or not unless it asks. Probably the best bet is disabling the mic for all apps, that is provided the app actually does as told & doesn't override that setting. It could be written into the EULA that you agree to this type of tracking by using the app.

For one, it's not immediately known if an app contains this ad-tracking technology -- but if it asks for your microphone, that might be a dead giveaway.
Click to expand...

It's not as easy to know if an app has the ultrasonic technology built-in, but it's always wise to check your app permissions. If there's no reason for an app, like a game or a news app, to have access to your microphone, switch it off.
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Josey Wales · Apr 4, 2018

I have a Corsair Void headset and it is not ever plugged in unless I was to use it.

Windows 10: Hundreds of privacy-invading apps using ultrasonic sounds to track you

Hundreds of privacy-invading apps using ultrasonic sounds to track you

Hundreds of privacy-invading apps using ultrasonic sounds to track you

Hundreds of privacy-invading apps using ultrasonic sounds to track you

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