Making Sensitive Data Location Aware

An anonymous reader writes "In a breakthrough that could aid spies, keepers of medical records, and parents who want to prevent their kids from 'sexting,' a team of Virginia Tech researchers has created software to remotely put smart phones under lockdown. The phones are given permission to access sensitive data while in a particular room, but when the devices leave the room, the data is completely wiped. A general, for example, could access secret intelligence while visiting a secure government facility without fear that his or her smart phone or tablet computer might later be lost or stolen, the team's lead researcher said. 'This system provides something that has never been available before. It puts physical boundaries around information in cyberspace.'" Unless the phone or other device can also take screenshots, or doesn't have that software installed.

Comments

like what happened with Anthony Weiner

[SendBot]

a radio host just took a picture of the pictures on the phone's screen with his phone's camera

Prevent "sexting"?

[L4t3r4lu5]

You mean it'll stop them taking pictures of themselves in the bathroom mirror?

Seriously, the prudish "adult" world needs to grow the fuck up and stop treating teens as children. They're exploring their sexuality, and they need guidance showing how their actions have repercussions, not a digital chastity belt. This arbitrary "16 and no younger" is great for protecting teens from predators, but crap for biology; Teens' hormones don't comply to the Whatever The Hell Law Makes "Sexting" a Crime Act.

Re:Prevent "sexting"?

[Antisyzygy]

1) Its a scientific fact that people were popping babies out as early as 12, 2000 years ago.

2) Its a scientific fact that people are not totally monogamous

3) Its a scientific fact that people have been "doing it" before marriage for over 50,000 years

4) Its a scientific fact that people crave sex for reproduction of the human race

5) Its a scientific fact that STD's can be minimized significantly with protection

6) Its a scientific fact that during puberty, your hormones are encouraging sex more than as an adult

7) Its a scientific fact that you cannot prove there is some guy in the sky telling us not to have sex

Im not sure why "parents" get to have so many rights over what their children do at 16. Sure, they are there to protect them and provide for them, but why can they force them to make personal choices however the parent sees fit? When I was 14 I didn't need my parents around all the time, I made good decisions (i.e. didn't try drugs except a little pot but didn't use it again until college), made good grades, and I chose for myself to enter into advanced courses in school for the challenge. I was not encouraged to do so. I was routinely left at home to take care of my brother, and I was allowed to travel around town on my bike and do basically whatever I wanted. I could see rated R movies, my mom found my dirty magazines and left them on my bed (i.e. HAHA! Caught you, but you can keep them), and I played whatever video games I wanted. Pretty much the only rule was I had to be home by 10, and if I started missing school then I would perhaps be grounded if it wasn't for a good reason. When I lost my virginity I told my parents about it individually and they were OK with it, in spite of being Christians. They knew I was sort of in love with the girl, as much as a kid can be when they aren't used to feelings like that, and it was just what kids do when they start having feelings like that. Essentially, in spite of my childhood I am still a good person, I don't lie, cheat on my wife, or hurt people intentionally. 16 is more than old enough to either know better or to be able to learn from consequences. If you haven't taught your child this by now you are a fucking shitty parent, and locking your kids up with chastity belts and dog collars won't make them be well adjusted adults.

Re:Prevent "sexting"?

[fermion]

The crime is there and in most cases is punished appropriately, meaning that the deterrent is there to stop repeated action. From what I can tell many of these cases get a slap on the wrist or some equivalent. At the basics, this is just child molestation which we have been dealing with for years. It often takes the form of an older boy having sex with a younger girl and then the girl claiming rape, or the parent freaking in general. Parents are going to pretend 'their kids' are saints, and only act badly because of the influence of 'other kids'.

What is new, as opposed to when I was a kid, is that a person can no longer just pay for their crime and then live relatively freely. Because of the sex offenders list a kid who commits these sex offenses, and these are sex offenses and should be punished as such, is now going to be labeled as a sex offender forever and everyone will know they committed a sex offense. It is like being convicted of stealing a car when on is 17, and having that follow you. It makes sense. I don't want to live next to someone who steals cars, but for some reason we have a list of child molesters, even when most children are molested by family members, less so neighbors, and not strangers, while cars are often stolen by strangers.

So it comes down to whitebread suburban families facing the realization that their kid is going to lose opportunity just because they don't have the sense to leave their bra on or zip up. In fact we don't know if such people are more likely to grow up to be child molesters or rapists. We don't know that they should not be proactively on a list. If the purpose of these lists is t save one child from being molested, it may be that such a child will be saved by putting these young potential perverts on a list. We don't know. What should not happen is that we begin to make exceptions to the list so that the 'good' people are given a second chance while the 'bad' people are not.

Re:if you're already in a secure facility

[leonardluen]

maybe because sometimes you want to be able to take those documents to a meeting with you...which may very well be in the same secure facility, but not near a terminal.

sometimes when i am at work i like carrying my laptop to a meeting so i can show others the stuff i was working on, so even in a facility with terminals all over the place it is still nice if the data can remain somewhat portable.

Re:Unless the phone can copy files

[Oxford_Comma_Lover]

The issue is not necessarily that it can be gotten around, so much as that it will make it harder for someone to use the information from an unauthorized location.

Re:sexting

[maxwell demon]

I guess taking pictures would be allowed only in areas where other people are expected to be around. It's highly unlikely the kids would 'sext' there, and if they did, it certainly wouldn't go unnoticed.

More about that general.

[Insightfill]

A general, for example, could access secret intelligence while visiting a secure government facility without fear that his or her smart phone or tablet computer might later be lost or stolen, the team's lead researcher said.

More likely: that general would leave the room, discover that the data he needed for his upcoming meeting had been removed from the phone, and then raise holy hell to have the damn system shut down forever.

Re:There are some neat things you can do with GPS

[theshowmecanuck]

Thank you. This is just another GPS based program that deletes instead of reminds. Nothing to see here. 'Researchers' is probably euphemism for fourth year student project that the fourth year students think is cool or novel but really isn't. And if they are really researchers, then why the hell is the U.S. government and the university wasting money on researchers who can only come up with something a fourth year student is probably capable of? Or is this the state of schools now? *sigh*