Cyborg Unplug Unveiled To Detect Google Glass Devices With Wi-Fi Connectivity

 Monday, September 08, 2014:  Glasshold.sh was released by Berlin-based artist and coder Julian Oliver earlier this summer which is a simple and free software to detect Google Glass. It can also boot the Glass from any local Wi-Fi network. Now Oliver is offering something more polished, an easy-to-use commercial product selling for less than $100.

Oliver has informed that later this month he will start taking pre-orders for a gadget called Cyborg Unplug. It's no bigger than a laptop charger which plugs into a wall and can also patrol the local Wi-Fi network for connected Google Glass devices. It also supports other potential surveillance gadgets like Google Dropcams, Wi-Fi-enabled drone copters and certain wireless microphones.

Whenever any of these devices is detected, the programming runs in order to flash an alert with an LED light and a sound is played through connected speakers. The Cyborg Unplug owner's smartphone also gets a ping through an Android app and the potential spy devices also get silently booted from the network. As told by Oliver, “Basically it’s a wireless defense shield for your home or place of work. The intent is to counter a growing and tangibly troubling emergence of wirelessly capable devices that are used and abused for surveillance and voyeurism.”

Cyborg Unplug will come in two versions: one is the cheaper version called “Little Snipper” and the other one is the higher-end one called “the Axe”. While the primary one has just an LED blinker alert, the higher one includes the Android app, an audio connection and also Wi-Fi connectivity. Oliver says, “It’s just modified router hardware, but instead of allowing devices to get to the internet, it does precisely the opposite.” Oliver says Cyborg Unplug will also offer an “All Out Mode.” A spokesperson from Google denied to comment on the same.

Cyborg Unplug will not detect any Glass user if no connection is made to Wi-Fi. As Oliver says “focus on objects actively made for surveillance,” and not general purpose devices like phones.