Smart Phones Could Know Their Users By How They Walk

mirgens writes "Technology Review has a short article on new work on gait analysis with the accelerometers built into many smart phones. The work was done at the Norwegian Information Security Laboratory ('Nislab'). The need for more security on mobile devices is increasing with new functionalities and features made available. To improve device security, Nislab proposed gait recognition as a protection mechanism — in other words, if somebody else walks away with your phone, it locks up. While previous work on gait recognition used video sources, for instance to identify people in airports or secure buildings, the Nislab researchers collected the gait data using a Google G1 phone containing the AK8976A embedded accelerometer." What if you're running from a mugger and want to dial 911?

Comments

What if you're running from a mugger and want to d

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

What if you're running from a mugger and want to dial 911?

Then don't lock out emergency functions - similar to the way that (in the US at least) phones without a valid subscription can still call 911.