Sports fashion companies are forever creating markets for technological solutions to problems we shouldn't really have. But what happens when an inocuous device designed for personal fitness use, can turn the exercise into a
potential nightmare scenario?
An article in c|net News reports on how academic research team has taken the Nike+iPod Sport Kit (a wireless sensor/receiver combination that reports motion data to an iPod Nano), and turned it into a device that can be used to track vulnerable individuals as they jog through the streets. As reported in their paper
(download PDF here), Scott Saponas and colleagues from the University of Washington, Seattle, managed to extend their unit to provide real-time information to plot a course on Google Maps, and even to supply information to a potential attacker's wristwatch!
The whole paper is worth a good read, because it lists many other potential scenarios whereby unscrupulous individuals could gather data on movements using this setup. This proof-of-concept is scary stuff indeed, and as they explain in their own words:
"We find and technically explore example scenarios, such as stalking, where the Nike+iPod Sport Kit’s design can lead to a compromise of personal privacy and safety. Our results exploit the fact that, when a Nike+iPod user walks or runs, the user’s Nike+iPod sensor broadcasts a unique identifier that can be detected up to 60 feet away. We implement a prototype surveillance system that can track people wearing Nike+iPod sensors, plotting their location on a GoogleMaps-based website and emailing and text-messaging real-time surveillance data to an attacker. Our surveillance system can track individuals when they are working out, as well as when they are casually walking and do not have their iPods with them. The smallest node in our real-time surveillance system is currently a miniature gumstix computer (8cm x 2.1cm x 1.3cm). We also develop a method
to convert a third-generation iPod into a surveillance device. Using a second-generation Intel Mote and a Microsoft SPOT Watch, we develop the means for an attacker to obtain real-time surveillance data on his or her wrist watch. To counterbalance our attacks, we present simple changes to the Nike+iPod Sport Kit’s design that, if implemented, would have significantly improved the kit’s resistance to the attacks in this paper. This work suggests a greater need for vigorously evaluating the privacy of new technologies before deployment."
