Inaudible audio tracking is IMO almost always against users informed consent, so apps doing it should be suspected as malware.
TVs & other devices that play audio should also be actively protecting privacy by filtering this content to prevent reception.
-
-
the problem is consumer electronics are rarely built with the best interest of the consumer in mind these days
-
Normally the reason is a profit motive contrary to consumer interests, though.
-
I don't see any profit motive for TV manufacturers to want to expose their customers to spying/malvertising, though.
-
targeted advertising? that seems to be the common thing
-
Even if they do their own ad injection, they have no motive to help competitors' ads...?
-
not sure what you're getting at. usually app/dev makers get paid to show ads of highest bidder. what am i missing?
-
Did you see the article? The inaudible audio tags are supposedly embedded in ads on TV channels.
-
The TV vendor has no motive to allow them to reach listening mobile devices. They could filter 'em out.
- 4 more replies
New conversation -
-
-
how can a TV filter hidden signal in audio? it's not like you need ultrasound/... to hide a message in sound
-
Roughly speaking, by applying its own random signal modulated the same way the hidden tracking signal is modulated.
-
if you don't know the encoding, you'll afaik need way more noise than the tracking signal itself, right?
-
since otherwise the encoding can average out the noise while adding up the signal?
-
and the ad creator has the advantage of being able to modify individual components of the signal
-
and the TV needs to operate in realtime, the attacker doesn't
-
and for ads, if nothing else works, you can manually create 2 variants each in N places and get 2^N combinations
-
(with the disadvantage that you then have to ship information about individual ads to phones)
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.