Slashdot Mirror
Future Cell Phone Knows You By Your Walk
jangobongo writes "Researchers at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland have come up with a unique way to secure your cell phone if it should get lost or stolen: 'Gait code'. Motion sensors in the phone would monitor the walking pattern (or gait) of whoever is in possession of the phone, and if the 'gait' doesn't match a pre-established biometric the phone would require a password to operate. The prototype cell phone correctly identified when it was being carried by someone other than its owner 98% of the time. The research team points out (powerpoint document) that this method could also work for PDAs, laptops, USB tokens, smart cards, wallets, suitcases, and guns."
I'm a wheelchair you insensitive clod. Anyone who can roll can pretend to be me.
If the gait biometric fails, and the system falls back to a password, then the system is still no stronger than a password based authentication scheme. So why add the extra complication and expense that developing this technology must surely add?
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Imagine when you've had 6-8 pints of Heavy and you stumble out of the pub and try to phone a taxi.
Have you ever tried typing in a password after a gallon of beer?
Never mind, there's always the beer scooter.
Stick Men
So, someone gets hit by a car, struggles to their feet, limps along a bit and then pulls out their phone to call for help... and it doesn't work.
Nice one.
-- Even if a god did exist, why the fsck should I worship it?
I R'dTFA, and they said that one of the things that alters the user's gait "code" is when they're drunk. If you paired a Bluetooth phone with a car, and added this, it could be a biometric way of making sure someone doesn't drive drunk. Just a thought.
ttuttle is a rankmaniac
And if you are lugging a carry-on and a laptop bag on the way to your flight, what stops the phone from deciding you are not you because the added weight changes your gait? TFA said the false alarm (accidental lockout) rate was 4%. I'd bet the rate is much worse if you are carrying something (suitcase, kid, groceries, etc.)
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
But only for people walking as usual before starting shooting.
911 (or 411) could be excluded from any kind of lock. Anyway there's a 2% chance of this system not working.
Time for 100 different posters to point out 200 different situations where they think this technology will fail.
And it all must be true, because the engineers who spent years designing this must be complete idiots, and would never think of these things on their own.
Ready, set, go!
The device is not useful. I don't understand why make such a fuss about it, because it doesn't work if you change shoes, get drunk or do anything that makes you walk diffrently than before. Seems that there is no cure for this, without breaking the usability of device.
I guess this means that you now have to prove that you can "walk the walk" before you can "talk the talk" now?
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
This seems like a better choice of biometric than most, because unlike a finger, it can't be cut off or "cloned" using gelatin or another way of transferring the fingerprint. Now, it might be possible to invent a "bug" that records someone's gait and feeds it to a set of servo motors that convince the phone you're them, but that's beyond what most people's resources and significantly harder than picking up a latent fingerprint.
ttuttle is a rankmaniac
You fall down some stairs, sprain your ankle, hobble along a bit, find you need help, grab your phone.
It won't let you call without the password, which you've forgotten since it's been 7 months since you last used it.
Nice.
I mean really. It's a phone. Have it recognize my voice. Why have it recognize my walk? But this does give me an idea - why not a pair of shoes that cause blisters if they don't recognize my voice? You have to keep talking to them or they tighten up on you. Maxwell Smart (rest his soul) was on to something I think.
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
how dare you say that! :p
Im going to get in my car and come over there
You can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man, no time to talk.
My martial arts teacher just broke his foot. His gait altered significantly. What's the backup to the gait detection? A password? Another biometric? Lockout if you fail? Or do you have to call up the cell phone company and give them more personal information?
Oh IIIII can't dance, IIIIII can't talk, only thing about me is the way my cell phone recognizes my gait...
They 'must' have got it from our own DARPA's defunct Information Awareness Office. The Total Information Awareness mission. Part of it was called HumanID, which could recognize people from far distances by their gait.
a reness
ooo.. I sound so fancy
Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Information_Aw
Stop invalid scientific research. Ask your local scientists to feed their lab rats with a phytoestrogen-free chow.
So if you're a young black person walking through a white neighborhood, will the cell phone automatically call the cops?
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I'm a woman's man: no time to talk.
I guess now I will have time to talk afterall!
Ah ah ah ah stayin' alive!
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Hookers with cell phones -- can you imagine the gait motion?
Woot!
-kgj
-kgj
What is the usefullness of this? I don't want to have to get up and walk around everytime I want to use my cell phone or laptop. Do you have to be walking to use the phone or just to authenticate to it?
My sig beat up your sig.
what if you hurt your leg and have a limp? What if you are trying to use it in a train/car/boat/plane? this technology is uhh stupid.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
...and if the 'gait' doesn't match...
...and if the 'gait' doesn't match a pre-established 'biometric' the 'phone' would require a 'password' to 'operate.'
There's really no need to put the word gait in quotes. The definition of the word fits exactly with how they're using it. Maybe we should start randomly putting other perfectly cromulent words in quotes. Let me continue with the rest of that sentence:
</pedant>
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
call me paranoid, but what if the thief got a hold of your phone, read your messages, and found something incriminating? The message or picture could then be used to blackmail you. This will be the most useful aspect of the system IMO - keeps private information stored on the phone away from anyone who doesn't know how to extract the data manually from the flash chip (not the SIM card - i'm talking about the stuff stored on the phone)
I for one have a fair bit of incriminating evidence on my phone, that could be used to blackmail me (in the form of both pictures and messages) - being slightly paranoid, this technology would ease my fears a bit, because very few people are going to be able to get at the data out of that flash chip without the password, and i wouldn't have to enter the password every time i wanted to use my phone.
Plain old PIN security has two problems - one, i can't receive calls when my phone is off. Two, it only protects what's on the SIM - not what's on the phone's internal flash chip
Ever notice how when you enter your PIN # when you turn on your phone, you can still dial 911 or 112 or whatever? even without a pin? Even without a SIM card? Or how you can still dial the emergency numbers when your phone's keylock is on? I expect this would work in the same way.
News Flash! Gait Monitoring cell phones now also notify you if you are gay!
it is a password protected system which only queries for a password when you fail biometric authentication. essentially it is more convenient than a password system that queries on usage or on time intervals. also because it registers by the way you walk, the authentication is hands and voice free.
i suppose for ultra security you could have the gait biometric which defaults to some other traditional biometric. but thats expensive and somewhat impractical for the average person.
The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
I know people who "drunk dial" their friends and loved ones. This could be marketed as a way to avoid making a call you regret when you're totally wasted.
The CB App. What's your 20?
I'm sorry officer Dave, but it looks like you quickly picked up your movement right before you picked up your gun, and I'm not sure it's you any more. Please enter your 8 digit code into combination-lock device to unlock your gun so it will fire...
Dave? Dave? Are you there, Dave?
You accidentally break your leg... so much for the cell-phone. These technologies rely too much on individual habits that may change. Samsung recently released a cell-phone protected by fingerprint technology. That type is protection is much stronger than protection based on walking habit. The holy grail, would of course have a cell-phone protected by eye biometrics.
Gait codes are simply too dependent on individual habits too be of any use. Plus, given enough time and a good enough heart, anybody can figure out your gait.
you put the pauli comment in quotes, as if that is exactly how he said it.
but, I don't think that is correct - can you post a ref to substantiate your claim that this is the exact phrase used ? I have spent time on the web, and never really come up with a def source
If you read it, the idea was a bug (ie. an actual device placed on the person or in the belongings of the person being monitored) which would record their gait -- in much the same way as the proposed phone would do it now.
Granted, there are practical considerations, as it would really need to be more on the person than in the belongings of the individual being monitored -- and unless they're cheap to produce and have wireless output, the individual trying to retrieve this information would generally want to get it back afterwards.
I think all the critics of this are right, yet they are missing the point, which is not even that the std pin is the backup
Technology succeeds largely if it panders to one of the dominant human traits - lazyness.
If the gait thing means i can save 5 secs, or maybe more on a cold day with gloves that have to be taken off, it will have a good chance in the market.
It just works while i walk?, what if i'm just standing there??, what if i'm in the car?
What if i borrow the cellphone?
Hmmn, could be tough news trying to sell a second-hand gun belonging to a Russian roulette player, then: "Only works when pointed at your own head."
Q:"How can you tell whether your cellphone was owned by a redneck?" A:"It only works when you're humping your sister"
As for wallets, well I guess folks tend to steal them for what's inside them. How many successful muggers grab your wallet, empty the contents on the floor and flee with the wallet, leaving you with all your cash and cards still intact.
Las qué passoun
tournoun pas maï
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man: no time to talk.
Made me laugh!
-kgj
-kgj
So if you're a young black person walking through a white neighborhood, will the cell phone automatically call the cops?
Tom Wolfe informs us, in Bonfire of the Vanities, that the swaggering gait affected by young black inner-city males is known as the Pimp Roll.
-kgj
-kgj
I dodn't call because I subbed my toe.
the only ringtone availible on this phone will be "walk this way"
Say you're running away. Really, what other time do you desperately need to be able to use your cell phone? Presumably these phones would be able to dial 911 without any kind of login.
Didn't RTFA but do you have to be in motion while trying to use the
phone?
people forget their PIN all the farking time. The dumbest ones are those that try the secondary code, the PUK, ten times before calling to ask whether they've used the wrong code. For those not familiar with the PIN/PUK structure; three wrong tries with the PIN and you need the PUK. Ten wrong tries with the PUK and the card gets fried.
I'm worried that the cell phone will be lock up or something in my pants while my right hand is busy tinkering the johnny.
Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk. or something like that.
When in Harlem, I walk like the brothers. When in Harrod's, I walk like I got a corncob up my butt. I fit in. No phone will ever work that way.
This is exactly the kind of thing that biometrics should be used for. Biometrics do not, in general, provide much in the way of security, but they can do a great job of making low-security systems much more *convenient* to use. Biometrics are an excellent choice when the alternative is no security at all.
This particular use is also good in that when the biometric technology fails, there is a backup (password) that is *more* secure than the biometric. In other words, it "fails safe", at least for false negatives. For false positives, well, it's 50 times more secure than nothing, which is the likely alternative.
I think that in all but very tightly controlled circumstances, this is precisely the sort of situation in which biometrics are useful. The characteristics are:
That said, one of their examples of where the technology could be applied was a bad one: guns. First, if you feel a need to put a lock on a gun so that, say, your kids can't use it, the 2% failure rate is too high. Guns require higher security than provided by this technology. Second, unless your firearms are only used for target shooting, an environment where there is never any rush, the fact that the gun may sometimes require you to fall back to a second authentication mechanism is unacceptable. Self-defense, hunting and military applications all require that a weapon be instantly available when required; an unpredictable delay to enter a password is unacceptable.
Although we've all been trained by movies to think of biometrics as "high-security" authentication tools, in most cases they are not. What they are is convenient, quick, low-security identification or authentication tools, and they're very useful when applied as such.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
So everytime I run, hop, skip, or jump (or otherwise walk differently than "normal") my phone is going to ask for a password?
Yeah, sounds like a feature I'm dying to have.
I'm going to pick on T-mobile and Singular based on feedback from friends who use either service, spread across 4 states. Based on the adds, these two offer some of the widest array of features, like Family-Share plans and Rollover minutes. Based on why my friends tell me, they are also two of the absolute worst service carriers on the market. One friend put it this way, "If you need to call 911, your better off just screaming at the top of your lungs."
Now look at Verizon and Nextel. Other than the Walkie-talkie and GPS(which doesn't work very well), Nextel is pretty darn spartan with what they offer, but they have relativly good phone service and the walkie-talkie will let you communicate with far lesser signal than phone service. And up until recently all Verizon has offered has been flat-out better phone service.
The point of this rant is, I call for a vote:
All those who want a gait sensing cell phone, raise your hand.
All those who would rather that R&D money goes into making my calls clearer, raise your hand.
What happens if your leg falls asleep or like every woman I know with a MP3 player you bring it to the gym and use the stair climber for like an hour straight? Or say you just had some dirty sex and were in a weird position and your legs really sore (on your tippie toes) ....can we trust your device will still know its you?
what about when I stumble out of a bar or after a tough leg workout - will it still work? what if I get injured and really need to use the phone. ofcourse I didn't RTFA
... I break my leg and can't walk? Or when I do again its slightly different? Am I now unable to use my phone?
Remember folks, slashdot doesn't have a -1 "disagree" moderation!
Also, many kids nowadays are getting cell-phones, pdas, and the like (though hopefully not guns). Your gait changes as you grow; are kids going to find themselves unable to send each other inane text-messages because they're in a growth spurt?
More seriously, if there's an emergency, and you're running away, is the phone going to lock you out so you have to enter your password before you dial 911?
With this technology, I can't easily lend out the product. For instance, my family at one point was forced to share a cell phone. This technology would make it an annoyance to share your phone, since you'd have to do the password all the time. If this is applied to other things, it could create a society where people can't share useful things like cars or whatever, which would be great for industries. When I was in High School, there were a lot of families with 2 cars for 3 drivers, and they scheduled it well. But with this technology they couldn't do that easily.
Now when you're running away from that rapist, your cell phone will shut down before you can make that call to 911.
This would go over just great when a rape+attempted murder victim can't call for help because while she could enter 911 after several tries, she can't enter 971356 correctly because she is shaking from shock.
I wonder if you can 're-program' the device periodically. As you age, your gait changes; and I wouldn't be surprised if your gait changes based on mood.
Just a thought, not a criticism.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
What if when your cell phone detects that you are drunk because of your gait, it doesn't require a password, but it will only call taxi cab companies (or some other form of public transporation)?
Wouldn't eliminate a lot of those drunken 2am calls?
Perhaps it even ties into your cell phone's calendar, notices that you've been getting drunk every night for two weeks and recommends AA meetings or therarpy?
There could be a future with devices that use sensors for situational awareness, and use that information in helpful ways. Of course they should only offer options and suggestions to their owners - not requirements.
In fact, in the US, that is required by law. Sadly, it has led to me calling 911 from my pocket, since it overrides the key lock as well. I guess my next phone will have to be a flip phone, though I don't really like them.
What if I stub my toe or injure my foot/leg... I won't be able to make a call until it heals? Dumb...
But how many times did it incorrectly identify the actual owner? That's a much more important statistic. Yeah so 98 percent of the time it might be right about you not being the phone's owner. But if it's mis-identifing the owner 98 percent of the time, is that first stat really meaningful?
Hello, honey? I'm calling to let you know that I fell and broke my leg, and I need a doctor before I... Hello? Hello?
How would this work in places where you can't walk around, such as at a restaurant, lecture, or theater?
The evaluation of an action as 'practical' . . . depends on what it is that one wishes to practice.
I use a minimum of three levels of gaits to keep my mobile devices secure;
for my ipod I use my regular walk to unlock it.
for my phone I add a slight spring to my step-- which you might say looks flaimboyant, but, whatever ya know-- higher security is cool-- in fact I talk about my gait-scheme at coffee shops a lot
for my really important flashdrive I have to walk on my hands... kinda a pain since it takes about 50 paces for it to authorize... but it's worth it knowing my gait is secure.
If I lock my phone, I'm going to have to stick it in my pocket and walk around the block until it unlocks? That seems silly.
i had an accident many years ago, and had to relearn how to walk. i'm painfully aware of my leg motion, and am constantly "reconfiguring" my gait. so i guess that counts me out, huh?
i'm sick of people posting reasons why a technology is unhelpful because it doesn't help them. if it's useful for the majority, that's good enough. i'm off to shoot myself in the head.
---- I was woken up this morning by a face full of fur. Damn cat thought my head made a good pillow.