Bluetooth Surveillance Tested In the UK

KentuckyFC writes "If you live in the city of Bath in the UK and carry a Bluetooth-enabled device, your movements may have been secretly monitored in an experiment designed to test surveillance techniques in prisons. Researchers from Bath University recorded the movements of 10,000 Bluetooth-enabled devices during their 6-month trial. They say the experiment was a test of a technique for monitoring the interactions between prisoners in jail that could be used to work out which inmates have become closely associated. The work was prompted by revelations that the Madrid train bombers who devastated the city in 2004 first met in a Spanish prison (abstract)."

Re:I've been experimenting with this a while.

[Hal_Porter]

Don't click notlong.com link in parent. Nasty stuff.

Re:I've been experimenting with this a while.

[Hal_Porter]

It redirects to a link on nimp.org which is the last measure - a load of shock sites and a loud samples. If you have flash or javascript enabled it will crash the browser with essentially a forkbomb. I opened it in Opera with flash and javascript off and it looks like it's trying a Java exploit too.

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Last-Measure [nationmaster.com]

Re:That explanation smells like bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, if they're not testing the sensors, but are actually testing the software that calculates the associations between ppl, then using it on an unknowning population who are already broadcasting is a good test. Wether it's bluetooth or rfid is really irelevant, you can plug in any type of sensor that can distinguish that an individual is in range.