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Picture entering a room and being recognised—not by your phone, not through facial recognition, but just by how your body interferes with Wi-Fi signals. Sounds like Star Trek? Scientists at La Sapienza University of Rome have just done it with a device they're calling WhoFi. And it's making headlines not only for what it can accomplish but also for the legitimate privacy concerns it raises.

No cameras. No microphones. No devices.

Whereas conventional surveillance systems observe based on the visual or auditory, WhoFi observes something much more subtle. It detects shifts in Wi-Fi signal patterns created by the human form. Your size, shape, and the way you occupy space—these all create subtle, personal distortions in the wireless signals nearby.

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By tracking these changes and inputs to a neural network, the system learns to tell one person from another with astonishing accuracy. In lab experiments using a common Wi-Fi sensing dataset named NTU-Fi, WhoFi re-identified people with up to 95.5% accuracy. No wearable technology. No active engagement. Just your body moving around in a room.

A New Kind of Surveillance

Although ditching the cameras may seem like a victory for privacy, it's not as easy as it sounds. WhoFi doesn't capture images or audio, which at first glance is a more considerate kind of surveillance. But the truth that it can detect and track individuals passively—without their permission or awareness—has raised grave controversy.

Although it doesn't take explicit biometric data such as fingerprints or iris scans, it does construct a profile based on your physical presence in a space. The researchers themselves admit the risk: with lax controls, this type of technology could facilitate surreptitious surveillance in a home, office, or public place.

Not in Use—Yet

Up to now, WhoFi is limited to the laboratory. It has not been implemented for commercial or governmental use. But with how ubiquitous Wi-Fi networks are in urban areas and homes, it's not difficult to envision their widespread use.

In theory, this technology would be able to power smart homes that change lighting or temperature depending on who's there. It would provide hands-free security features or even allow non-intrusive health tracking for elderly care. But that all depends on how the technology is treated—and who's observing.

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The Bottom Line

WhoFi introduces us to a new form of sensing: invisible, touchless, and extremely precise. With that ability, though, comes a requirement for openness, responsibility, and above all—permission. Where the convenience/surveillance boundary continues to broaden, technologies such as this serve as a reminder that not all innovation exists consequence-free.