Nike+ iPod Used For Surveillance 66
Thib writes "Researchers at the University of Washington have published a report detailing many easy and cheap ways the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit previously discussed on Slashdot can be used to track individuals, even when they are not carrying their iPod. They have even implemented a Google Maps application to display surveillance data in real time." From the article: "'Our research also shows that there exist simple cryptographic techniques that the Nike+iPod Sport Kit designers could have used to improve the privacy-preserving properties of the Nike+iPod kit,' the group reports. 'Our work underscores the need for a broad public discussion about and further research on the privacy-preserving properties of new wireless personal gadgets,' the group reports. 'We stress, however, that there is no evidence that Apple or Nike intended for these devices to be used in any malicious manner. Additionally, neither Apple nor Nike endorsed this study.'"
UW news release, inline video, and PDF of research (Score:3, Interesting)
The University of Washington's news and information office put together a release that includes an embedded video and a PDF of the research paper: [washington.edu]http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articl eID=28494 [washington.edu]
The inline video, made by the researchers, is well-crafted and rather entertaining.
Disclosure: I work on behalf of the UW and the technical side of its news operations.
Re:Isn't this = to any frequency emitting device? (Score:3, Interesting)
By that logic a fax machine is a web server, since somebody can call and request a page be sent to them.
Re:No surprise. (Score:3, Interesting)
The way the pager knows if it has missed any pages is because there's a rolling sequence number on the pages, and if one is missed, it knows a page has been missed.
This leads me to think that people who are paranoid of being tracked through cell phones should just go get themselves a one-way pager, and turn on their cell phone only to make a call or return a page -- or just return the call using some other phone that happens to be around.
Incidentally, I wonder how two-way pagers work. Do they keep themselves associated to a certain tower, or do they receive the same way one-way pagers do, activating a transmitter only to send pages?
If you want to get really technical, I guess it's possible to track you by checking for the stray RF from your pager's radio receiver, but it's bound to be very impractical -- even much less practical than using the emissions from a Nike+iPod device to track you -- given the very low level of emissions.