Your sneakers are gonna rat you out!

[Theophylact]

That is, if you have the Nike +iPod Sport Kit. Bruce Schneier writes:

Researchers at the University of Washington have demonstrated a surveillance system that automatically tracks people through the Nike+iPod Sport Kit. Basically, the kit contains a transmitter that you stick in your sneakers and a receiver you attach to your iPod. This allows you to track things like time, distance, pace, and calories burned. Pretty clever.

However, it turns out that the transmitter in your sneaker can be read up to 60 feet away. And because it broadcasts a unique ID, you can be tracked by it. In the demonstration, the researchers built a surveillance device (at a cost of about $250) and interfaced their surveillance system with Google Maps. Details are in the paper. Very scary.

This is a great demonstration for anyone who is skeptical that RFID chips can be used to track people. It's a good example because the chips have no personal identifying information, yet can still be used to track people. As long as the chips have unique IDs, those IDs can be used for surveillance.

To me, the real significance of this work is how easy it was. The people who designed the Nike/iPod system put zero thought into security and privacy issues. Unless we enact some sort of broad law requiring companies to add security into these sorts of systems, companies will continue to produce devices that erode our privacy through new technologies. Not on purpose, not because they're evil -- just because it's easier to ignore the externality than to worry about it.

[shawshank62]

I'm glad that I elected to just buy the regular nike shox's, and not the one with the tracker chip!

[RicheemxX]

god! this is a sensor you add yourself so you know its in there! for runners hikers or even walkers its actually a pretty cool gadget

[Gait_Keeper]

hehe hehe hehe hehe

yeah you put it in yourself, but what if you put it in someone elses shoe????

[Theophylact]

"These are the soles that time men's tries..."

[buckaro]

You may put it in there yourself, but you wouldn't neceserilly expect to be able to be tracked....if your wearing a nike sports kit with ipod etc you might be a criminal doing a robbery and need to time the speed at which you move so use it, whilst pretending to be a jogger.

Damn, i see my business doing down the drain, gonna have to replan all my robb...i mean, jogs, now! :P

PS- Not a major problem, unless you can amp up how far they transmit, if you can do that then you can swap it in someones shoes and track that person, it'd be easy to do, lets face it, you leave your trainers out to dry after washing them or whatever and you end up being tracked by someone around the block....now THATS a scary thought. May i suggest we will all end up carrying electronic countermeasures such as those used by the military?

[paul9]

How about these ones to rat you out?