SoniControl - A Mobile Ultrasonic Firewall
This addresses privacy concerns for mobile device users in the context of emerging ultrasonic NFC technology, presenting a novel solution to a specific problem.
The paper tackles the privacy risks of ultrasonic near-field communication between mobile devices by introducing SoniControl, the first ultrasonic firewall that reliably detects and prevents hidden data exchange, enabling users to test and protect against unwanted tracking.
The exchange of data between mobile devices in the near-ultrasonic frequency band is a new promising technology for near field communication (NFC) but also raises a number of privacy concerns. We present the first ultrasonic firewall that reliably detects ultrasonic communication and provides the user with effective means to prevent hidden data exchange. This demonstration showcases a new media-based communication technology ("data over audio") together with its related privacy concerns. It enables users to (i) interactively test out and experience ultrasonic information exchange and (ii) shows how to protect oneself against unwanted tracking.