Engineering Investigations
Embedded vision: Is your smartphone watching you?
Clive Maxfield
3/18/2013 8:09 AM EDT
In my recent blog DESIGN West: The rise of embedded vision, I noted that one of the hot topics in Embedded Space at the moment is that of Embedded Vision – the creation of machines that see.
I also noted that there was going to be a paper on this topic in the Processors and Programmable Devices track at the forthcoming DESIGN West 2013 Conference and Exhibition. I further mentioned that one of the best sources of information on Embedded Vision is the Embedded Vision Alliance, and that anyone planning on attending DESIGN West should make sure to check out the Embedded Vision Summit, which will take place on April 25 in the San Jose Convention Center.
In my blog I made the comment that embedded vision would be coming to products sooner that you might think. Well, things are moving faster than even I had expected. By some strange quirk of fate, I was just reading about the new Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone, which will go on sale around the world sometime in the next couple of months.
The Galaxy S4 will be able to use its camera to watch you watching it (if you see what I mean). If you are streaming a video from YouTube and you look away to talk to someone, for example, the S4 will see that you are no longer looking at it and it will automatically pause the video. When your eyeballs eventually return to the screen, the S4 will immediately resume streaming the video.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I'm starting to wonder where this might all lead. Call me a "worrywart" if you will, but suppose someone hacks into your phone and starts watching what you are doing at any time of the day or night...
As the days go by, I'm coming up with all sorts of questions to ask the experts at DESIGN West.
Hopefully I will see you there. What? You haven’t registered yet? Tell me you are joking! Well, do not delay -- let's have no more dilly-dallying or shilly-shallying--instead, Click Here to Register for the conference before all the good seats are snapped up!
If you found this article to be interest, visit Microcontroller / MCU Designline where – in addition to my Max's Cool Beans blogs on all sorts of "stuff" – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to all aspects of designing and using microcontrollers.
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
Last but certainly not least, make sure you check out all of the discussions and other information resources at All Programmable Planet. For example, in addition to blogs by yours truly, microcontroller expert Duane Benson is learning how to use FPGAs to augment (sometimes replace) the MCUs in his robot (and other) projects.
I also noted that there was going to be a paper on this topic in the Processors and Programmable Devices track at the forthcoming DESIGN West 2013 Conference and Exhibition. I further mentioned that one of the best sources of information on Embedded Vision is the Embedded Vision Alliance, and that anyone planning on attending DESIGN West should make sure to check out the Embedded Vision Summit, which will take place on April 25 in the San Jose Convention Center.
In my blog I made the comment that embedded vision would be coming to products sooner that you might think. Well, things are moving faster than even I had expected. By some strange quirk of fate, I was just reading about the new Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone, which will go on sale around the world sometime in the next couple of months.
The Galaxy S4 will be able to use its camera to watch you watching it (if you see what I mean). If you are streaming a video from YouTube and you look away to talk to someone, for example, the S4 will see that you are no longer looking at it and it will automatically pause the video. When your eyeballs eventually return to the screen, the S4 will immediately resume streaming the video.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I'm starting to wonder where this might all lead. Call me a "worrywart" if you will, but suppose someone hacks into your phone and starts watching what you are doing at any time of the day or night...
As the days go by, I'm coming up with all sorts of questions to ask the experts at DESIGN West.
Hopefully I will see you there. What? You haven’t registered yet? Tell me you are joking! Well, do not delay -- let's have no more dilly-dallying or shilly-shallying--instead, Click Here to Register for the conference before all the good seats are snapped up!
If you found this article to be interest, visit Microcontroller / MCU Designline where – in addition to my Max's Cool Beans blogs on all sorts of "stuff" – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to all aspects of designing and using microcontrollers.
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
Last but certainly not least, make sure you check out all of the discussions and other information resources at All Programmable Planet. For example, in addition to blogs by yours truly, microcontroller expert Duane Benson is learning how to use FPGAs to augment (sometimes replace) the MCUs in his robot (and other) projects.
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betajet
3/18/2013 1:53 PM EDT
Various "worrywarts" have been concerned for long time about too-smart-for-their-own-good phones being used to spy on naive users using microphones and/or cameras, with GPS location thrown in for free. If you have a smart phone, it could be doing it right now. Don't bother switching it "off", because unless you take the battery out and discharge all capacitors it could still be recording and then upload the swag at the next available opportunity. I'm not saying it's actually doing this, but it "has the technology" and unless your phone has 100% free-as-in-liberty software that you compiled and installed yourself, there's no way to tell if it's doing this or not.
Here's a recent item from Forbes, not usually dismissed as a long-haired hippy tinfoil-hat publication: http://www.forbes.com/sites/adriankingsleyhughes/2012/10/03/how-your-android-smartphone-could-be-used-to-spy-on-you/
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Paul A. Clayton
3/18/2013 7:32 PM EDT
FLOSS and compiling yourself is insufficient. One would also need to examine all the source code of all the software and whatever binary bootstrap code is used to initially compile the compiler, and one would need a trusted platform on which to do the examination and compilation. Then one would need to trust that the loading of the software is "secure" and even that the hardware/firmware has no security flaws.
(By the way, software can be licensed in a way that allows use of source code and use of 3rd party patches without being Free/Open Source. If unlicensed use can be controlled or is a minor concern, proprietary software can even have the source be freely distributable--with only licensees having the rights to compiler and/or use the software.)
Given the practical need for a web of trust, compiling the software oneself is probably not that helpful. If one cannot trust the hardware vendor not to have pre-installed and unremovable (or just secret) malware, how can one trust that the software one installs will actually control the hardware?
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GerardS
3/20/2013 2:58 AM EDT
Sorry, not even compiling everything yourself will guarantee that no malware or spyware is infesting your device. See the Wikipedia article on Backdoors, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backdoor_(computing).
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David Ashton
3/18/2013 6:42 PM EDT
The experts will no doubt say "No, that can never happen, because.....".
To which you answer, "Yeah, right, the experts said the Titanic was unsinkable..."
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Paul A. Clayton
3/18/2013 7:49 PM EDT
A camera can be fairly effectively covered (if one knows where it is/they are). The microphone might be more difficult to physically incapacitate.
Similar issues have already existed with personal computers. Many laptops have built-in webcams and microphones.
Because of its size, a cell phone would be somewhat easier to drop into a "privacy box" (with optional RF blocking) than a laptop. Such a box could even provide a charging function.
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Duane Benson
3/21/2013 3:51 PM EDT
I recently got a passport card and it comes with a metalized sleeve to shield it from RFID spies. I could see something like that being needed for smart phones.
Maybe the phone covers that just about everyone buys should have shutters to cover the camera lens when not in use. Something to muffle the sound going into the mic would be appropriate as well.
Finally, you really want to make sure it's completely off and inaccessible a Faraday cage could be used as a cover over the cover. Sounds like a good Kickstarter project.
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Frank Eory
3/21/2013 7:41 PM EDT
As I was starting to read your comment and saw "metallized sleeve," it occurred to me that this might be a great product idea. Then I read to the end and I see you already came to the same conclusion :)
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Doug S
3/21/2013 9:14 PM EDT
Errr....most people consider the ability of a smartphone to RECEIVE calls or other push updates one of its more important features, so putting it in a metallic sleeve is never going to be a popular option outside of those who shop the kitchen aisle for their headwear.
Since RFID is remotely powered, and can be activated from a distance much further than the few inches its proponents claim, it is a totally different class of potential security issue than anything else on a smartphone. Even with the battery removed RFID can be activated from at least 10 feet away with some inexpensive gear that will fit inconspicuously in a briefcase or backpack.
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OmegaMan
3/25/2013 2:16 PM EDT
Hey Max, I know this is off-topic, but I couldn't find your earlier column (much earlier) about great Sci Fi novels that should be made into movies. Ender's Game is coming to theaters Nov. 1 of this year. Thought you would be interested.
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Max the Magnificent
3/26/2013 9:37 AM EDT
OMG!!! Fingers crossed that they do the book justice.
I really like some of OSC's books, and others I could care less about -- but this was certainly one of the good ones :-)
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OmegaMan
3/26/2013 1:42 PM EDT
Harrison Ford is playing Colonel Graff, the man responsible for Ender's training.
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