Smart Phones Could Know Their Users By How They Walk 96
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?
What if you're running from a mugger and want to d (Score:5, Informative)
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.
The technology seems in its baby stage at the time (Score:2, Informative)
From TFA: "they were only able to achieve a 20 percent Equal Error Rate (EER), which means that one time out of five, the phone registered either a false positive or a false negative when trying to determine the identity of the user. And that's with the phone in a hip holster, oriented in the same way every time."
Also, I recently injured my leg - would I be unable to use my phone with my new limp?
Re:OnSmart App (Score:3, Informative)
My point was, why should your phone do something that your car should do (or already does do)?
You do know that OnStar is only available as OEM equipment on GM (Government Motors) vehicles, right? Oh and Saab, like anyone buys those.