4 ms·
This just doesn't seem feasible in the real world. Sending out high frequency sound from a device is one thing, but having the other devices actively listening
by jnevill 11y ago
This just doesn't seem feasible in the real world. Sending out high frequency sound from a device is one thing, but having the other devices actively listening for the sound, is quite a feat. It's mentioned inside a block of text in a quoteblock in the article: "The inaudible code is recognized and received on the other smart device by the software development kit installed on it.". From where does one get this SDK installed on their device with enough permissions to actively listen for its counterpart ad? There's just too many points of failure for this to be a real threat, or a real marketing tool for that matter.
- benologist 11y agoa) there are apps already that always listen b) lots of developers use ads or other SDKs in their apps, not to mention we just saw Xcode poisoned with a malicious SDK
- peteretep 11y agoXCode wasn't poisoned, someone released a hacked copy of it on a popular file sharing site
- tantalor 11y ago21 May 2014, Arstechnica. "Passive listening will soon be a feature for Facebook app during status updates" http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/05/passive-listen-will-soon-be-enabled-for-facebook-app-during-status-updates/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/05/passive-listen-will-...
- chippy 11y ago2015 this does already exist, but only for the mobile Android app, and it's opt-in. So as you type a status update, it will listen for any music or TV audio and determine what you are listening to.
- superuser2 11y agoHow many Android apps don't have microphone permissions?
- rhubarbquid 11y agoThat was my first too. What's listening for this? Good luck getting me to grant random apps permission to use my mic. It could be a "Smart" TV though, listening for your phone/tablet/laptop, or a device installed in places like cafes...
- ryanhuff 11y agoYou don't think devices such as the Amazon Echo could do such a thing?
- niftich 11y agoPre-6.0 Android permissions aren't granular and are 'take it or leave it' approved at first install. Some apps install services that run at startup. This would make for a rather excellent monetizatation/interactivity strategy for a chat app, which already has all the necessary permissions for 'normal' operation (think Snapchat LIVE or Moments). Sonic networking in action: [1] http://smus.com/ultrasonic-networking/ http://smus.com/ultrasonic-networking/ [2] https://gigaom.com/2014/06/26/chromecast-will-use-ultrasonic-sounds-to-pair-your-tv-with-your-friends-phones/ https://gigaom.com/2014/06/26/chromecast-will-use-ultrasonic...
- ramidarigaz 11y agoChromecast can do ultrasonic pairing.
- ewams 11y agoFeasible and in action 2 years ago: http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/meet-badbios-the-mysterious-mac-and-pc-malware-that-jumps-airgaps/ http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/meet-badbios-the-mys...
- esaym 11y agoThat is probably a hoax: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BadBIOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BadBIOS No one other than one person has ever talked about it.
- tedmiston 11y agoFull disclosure: I work for an audio beacon startup (in bio). You're correct about microphone permissions related to the SDK. On iOS, this means displaying the top colored bar when you're using the microphone too... IMHO it's not something you can just turn on and not realize it's being used. We use our listening tech at concerts and event to distribute triggered content and messages from the speaker infrastructure to attendees' phones (ex. "this drink line is long, go to the other one", "here's a free song from the artist on stage right now", "<sponsor> is giving away a free thing", etc.)
- geon 11y agoWhy not just use bluetooth beacons for that?
- tedmiston 11y agoThe strongest answer is that bluetooth beacons don't work well in huge infrastructure. Sometimes you don't have a place for them to go or they get stolen. Also it's free to use the speaker infrastructure, but outfitting and managing hundreds of beacons is not cheap. Some of our clients have switched to audio beacons for similar reasons. The Brooklyn Museum did a nice writeup of why bluetooth beacons at scale didn't work for them. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/blogosphere/2015/02/04/the-realities-of-installing-ibeacon-to-scale/ https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/blogosphere/2015/02...
- rasz_pl 11y agoYes, BT beacons are not cheap when you buy $100 ones from a startup, also whole article was TLDR:'if only we could but a can of spray paint and change color of beacons, but we cant so oh well'
- makomk 11y agoThose beacons have some kind of rubberized case; you can't really spray-paint that. (Also, last I heard the cheaper beacons still weren't terribly cheap and had awful battery life.)
- privacy101 11y agoSo many apps request permissions that would make this possible that I believe that it is a real threat.
- shas3 11y agoI know at least one group that has used mobile-phone ultrasonics for sonar imaging of breathing. http://apnea.cs.washington.edu/ http://apnea.cs.washington.edu/ In terms of entropy, breathing rate is a lot of information: several breaths per minute. So if something of that rate can be noncooperatively recovered, the claim in your comment about cooperative recovery is dubitable.