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We are entering the era of ubiquitous surveillance. And if earlier such capabilities were available only to law enforcement agencies, now they are in every smartphone: a voice recorder and a camera for recording video and sound, GPS and Bluetooth trackers for tracking coordinates? MAC address and IMSI as unique identifiers of the device. This is more than enough to fully track all human activities. In the same way, TVs and other home gadgets, as well as car software, track their users. They record all movements and activities of a person in the cabin. Then the data is sent to the car company, which subsequently sells it.
All this is a well-known story. But now the industry has grown to such a level that anyone can use tracking gadgets and trackers. "Spy devices" and bugs, which were previously only found in movies, have gone on open sale. The question is which of them can be used legally and which cannot.
For example, the American company Rewind AI has started accepting pre-orders for the Rewind pendant. It is hung around the neck, and the pendant continuously records audio 24/7, like a chest-mounted video recorder for police officers and public transport inspectors (only here without video, but with voice recognition and speech transcription in text form).
Rewind Pendant. Pre-orders are accepted for $59.
Main features:
According to the law, recording a conversation is only permitted with the consent of the interlocutor, and wearing hidden devices is generally prohibited. It is not entirely clear how compliance with the law will be ensured in this case. The founder of the company answers this question rather vaguely: in fact, he lists several ideas on how to guarantee the recording of only those interlocutors who have given consent. For example, "via voice prints" and "retelling the text instead of direct speech".
Another common problem is Bluetooth bugs like Airtag, which are produced by several large companies, including Apple, Tile, Samsung and Xiaomi. They allow tracking an object through a network of branded smartphones. The object of surveillance can be not only your own property - keys, wallet, bag or bicycle - but also another person (if you put the tracker in his pocket), his car, etc.
Hidden surveillance of another person is a gross violation of the law, so the legislation should clearly state when and under what conditions Bluetooth trackers can be used. It is clear that the manufacturing companies themselves are taking measures to ensure that their trackers are not used illegally (recognizing devices nearby, siren on a timer, etc.). But this is not enough: for such violations, clear administrative or criminal liability should be introduced, as for unauthorized invasion of someone else's privacy.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has long been sounding the alarm about the unauthorized use of trackers, calling for both technological and legislative measures to protect privacy, including mandatory encryption at all stages of communication with this device.
In 2024, the industry finally began to discuss this issue. Currently, the most effective way to prevent unwanted surveillance is an alert. If a tracker (not paired with your phone) moves nearby, you will receive a notification.
Apple initially released the Airtag with insufficient security: alerts only work on iOS phones, and the sound is very easy to mute or turn off, with the signal only triggering after three days. Apple has since improved its security measures, reducing the time before the signal and releasing an Android bug scanner nearby. Meanwhile,
Tile took a step forward by adding a tracker detection feature to the app, and then a step back by creating an “anti-thief mode” that disables this feature.
Currently, none of the physical trackers on the market have any means of protection against stalking.
Google recently announced the introduction of Bluetooth tracking detection in Android.
The new feature currently only detects Airtags, but it's still a big step up for people who might be tracked. Android users no longer need to download an app; everything happens in the background.
Airtag detection is just the beginning. The IETF is currently working on a draft of a common standard called Detection of Unwanted Location Trackers (DULT), prepared by an IETF working group. If all manufacturers agree on it, any trackers will be detected by default on iOS and Android phones. However, there are still some difficult issues for experts to agree on. You can see the transcript of the last DULT working group meeting and the voting results here.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation points out that it is impossible to simultaneously perform two functions:
If a tracker is used to secretly track a thief, then this tracker can be used to secretly track anyone. It is very important that tracker manufacturers understand this, and that such activity is prohibited at the legislative level.
It is important to set the right priorities. Privacy and protection of people should be more important than protection of property, says EFF.
The standard should also protect the privacy of tracker owners, so that they are not tracked through their own trackers that are attached to keys or a wallet. The tracker ID should be changed randomly very often.
In addition, Apple should abandon its decision to file patent rights to the DULT specification, which is planned as universal and protects the privacy of people all over the world. Samsung, Google, Mozilla and many others have already abandoned patent rights to this specification. The technology for detecting unwanted bugs can and should be free for everyone, says EFF.
Source
All this is a well-known story. But now the industry has grown to such a level that anyone can use tracking gadgets and trackers. "Spy devices" and bugs, which were previously only found in movies, have gone on open sale. The question is which of them can be used legally and which cannot.
Audio recorder
For example, the American company Rewind AI has started accepting pre-orders for the Rewind pendant. It is hung around the neck, and the pendant continuously records audio 24/7, like a chest-mounted video recorder for police officers and public transport inspectors (only here without video, but with voice recognition and speech transcription in text form).
Rewind Pendant. Pre-orders are accepted for $59.
Main features:
- Life blogging, recording all events in life (the company recently released a personal search engine Rewind, a Mac/iOS product that records all events on the computer and smartphone screen, including messengers, and then allows you to search in the archive.
Kulon will add voice recording to this system. - Full-text search of conversation archive.
- Search the archive by voice and name (voiceprint, identity recognition). If you have met someone before, they will be saved in the archive.
- Restoring memories after memory loss (for example, as a result of an accident, illness, or alcohol poisoning).
- Integration with ChatGPT: the bot answers questions, learning from the archive of your data, documents, personal correspondence in the messenger and conversations.
According to the law, recording a conversation is only permitted with the consent of the interlocutor, and wearing hidden devices is generally prohibited. It is not entirely clear how compliance with the law will be ensured in this case. The founder of the company answers this question rather vaguely: in fact, he lists several ideas on how to guarantee the recording of only those interlocutors who have given consent. For example, "via voice prints" and "retelling the text instead of direct speech".
Bluetooth bugs
Another common problem is Bluetooth bugs like Airtag, which are produced by several large companies, including Apple, Tile, Samsung and Xiaomi. They allow tracking an object through a network of branded smartphones. The object of surveillance can be not only your own property - keys, wallet, bag or bicycle - but also another person (if you put the tracker in his pocket), his car, etc.
Hidden surveillance of another person is a gross violation of the law, so the legislation should clearly state when and under what conditions Bluetooth trackers can be used. It is clear that the manufacturing companies themselves are taking measures to ensure that their trackers are not used illegally (recognizing devices nearby, siren on a timer, etc.). But this is not enough: for such violations, clear administrative or criminal liability should be introduced, as for unauthorized invasion of someone else's privacy.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has long been sounding the alarm about the unauthorized use of trackers, calling for both technological and legislative measures to protect privacy, including mandatory encryption at all stages of communication with this device.
In 2024, the industry finally began to discuss this issue. Currently, the most effective way to prevent unwanted surveillance is an alert. If a tracker (not paired with your phone) moves nearby, you will receive a notification.
Apple initially released the Airtag with insufficient security: alerts only work on iOS phones, and the sound is very easy to mute or turn off, with the signal only triggering after three days. Apple has since improved its security measures, reducing the time before the signal and releasing an Android bug scanner nearby. Meanwhile,
Tile took a step forward by adding a tracker detection feature to the app, and then a step back by creating an “anti-thief mode” that disables this feature.
Currently, none of the physical trackers on the market have any means of protection against stalking.
General standard for surveillance bugs
Google recently announced the introduction of Bluetooth tracking detection in Android.
The new feature currently only detects Airtags, but it's still a big step up for people who might be tracked. Android users no longer need to download an app; everything happens in the background.
Airtag detection is just the beginning. The IETF is currently working on a draft of a common standard called Detection of Unwanted Location Trackers (DULT), prepared by an IETF working group. If all manufacturers agree on it, any trackers will be detected by default on iOS and Android phones. However, there are still some difficult issues for experts to agree on. You can see the transcript of the last DULT working group meeting and the voting results here.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation points out that it is impossible to simultaneously perform two functions:
- anti-theft protection (anti-theft device);
- message to the thief that he is being followed.
If a tracker is used to secretly track a thief, then this tracker can be used to secretly track anyone. It is very important that tracker manufacturers understand this, and that such activity is prohibited at the legislative level.
It is important to set the right priorities. Privacy and protection of people should be more important than protection of property, says EFF.
The standard should also protect the privacy of tracker owners, so that they are not tracked through their own trackers that are attached to keys or a wallet. The tracker ID should be changed randomly very often.
In addition, Apple should abandon its decision to file patent rights to the DULT specification, which is planned as universal and protects the privacy of people all over the world. Samsung, Google, Mozilla and many others have already abandoned patent rights to this specification. The technology for detecting unwanted bugs can and should be free for everyone, says EFF.
Source
