A new technique is allowing major websites to monitor users ’ online activity . Audio Fingerprinting has nothing to do with a device ’s microphone , but instead relies on the way in which the audio output of each machine is processed . A third - party tracker uses the microphone to send low - frequency signals to a user ’s device . Once processed , a unique fingerprint is created based on the device ’s hardware and software capabilities . This is providing a valuable new tool to a range of interested parties , including Google , marketing organisations and law enforcement . Researchers at Princeton University discovered that Google has , through a number of domains , tracked users on nearly 80 % of all top one million domains using this and other tracking techniques .
A new technique is allowing major websites to monitor users’ online activity. Audio Fingerprinting has nothing to do with a device’s microphone, but instead relies on the way in which the audio signal of each machine is processed. A third-party tracker uses the technique to send low-frequency sounds to a user’s device. Once processed, a unique fingerprint is created based on the device’s hardware and software capabilities. This is providing a valuable new tool to a range of interested parties, including Google, marketing organisations and law enforcement. Researchers at Princeton University discovered that Google has, through a number of domains, tracked users on nearly 80% of all top one million domains using this and other tracking techniques.