Can a mobile phone battery track you?
With this little known exploit, a mobile phone’s battery life can actually be used to track online behavior. Security researchers have found that the battery status API of mobile devices can be used to track people online. In some instances, this can be used to upsell services purchased through a mobile app, ride sharing “surge pricing” for example. How else can this be used? Here’s what you need to know about the privacy and security issues raised. What is the Battery Status API The Battery Status API was introduced in HTML5, and this was intended to give site owners information so that a version of websites designed for users on low power devices could be served. This API “allows site owners to see the percentage of battery life left in a device, as well as the time it will take to discharge or the time it will take to charge, if connected to a power source” according to a newsreport on the research . This is all seemingly harmless information. But as the s...