Your common Wi-Fi router poses a privacy risk. It can secretly monitor your movements. This happens inside your home or office. It even works in your favorite cafe. The router acts like a hidden camera. It detects your posture and presence accurately.
A German research team released an important paper detailing a technology developed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology for tracking individuals remotely in real time using only your router — no smartphone, computer, etc., required to accomplish that. The study was led by Thorsten Strufe.
Every human body causes a series of disruptions to radio waves transmitted through a room. Because Wi-Fi signals travel within that room, they will bend or break every time an individual moves through that location due to the human body. Routers connect to an Internet Service Provider by analyzing the interference caused by each person’s movements. They will create a digitally generated image of an individual as they move through the radio waves using a special type of feedback called “Beamforming Feedback Information (BFI).” Usually, BFI enhances the router’s performance.
Dr. Strufe has explained his technology in simple terms. He calls it a “camera made from radio waves” because it doesn’t use light to take pictures; instead, it creates an image based on the displacement or disturbance of Forming Feedback Information. This is a completely new way to perform video surveillance on people.
Because of the ease with which mass surveillance can be conducted with this type of technology, anyone who can access a Wi-Fi router can be tracked without their knowledge. For example, a Wi-Fi router located inside a café could be able to record an individual’s activity on a daily basis. The information collected by the café’s router could be obtained by the café or used by a government agency or business for its own purposes.
There are more Wi-Fi routers in existence today than ever before. This creates a huge tracking network. Every router becomes a potential spy device. This poses a major threat to personal privacy. Your movements could be monitored constantly. This happens without your consent or awareness.
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