Doesn't it seem like everyday there's a new way for people to track you.
Google Maps is already doing its best to make sure you never have any privacy, and now it turns out you can be tracked via the battery life in your smartphone.
Of course, that doesn't mean there's anything untoward about it, it simply means that THEY'RE OUT TO GET US, MAAAAAAAAAANN!!
A feature of HTML 5(the thing that makes code look like the actual internet) called the Battery Status API allows sites to check your phone's battery so accurately that it can track your movements.
Battery Status API pulls you phone's battery information like its level, charging and discharging time, which when combined is unique to almost every phone, allows hackers to create a digital fingerprint of your phone and track your movements online.
As of June this year Chrome and Firefox have been supporting the feature, so we're all under constant surveillance. The good news is that the newer your device and battery, the better chance you have of fending off the potential problem.
The paper which revealed this problem claims that "In short time intervals, Battery Status API can be used to reinstantiate tracking identifiers of users, similar to evercookies. Moreover, battery information can be used in cases where a user can go to great lengths to clear her evercookies".
The older your phone, and the more worn the battery is, the more susceptible you are to the problem, but that doesn't mean we we need to break out the tin-foil hats just yet. Researchers say that by rounding the battery numbers, thus reducing the individuality of every device, it would make our phones virtually untraceable.
That being said,
Via Mashable