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Bluetooth Surveillance Tested In the UK

Posted by kdawson on from the turn-the-darn-thing-off dept.

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)."

2 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Re:mandatory bluetooth collars next??? by owlnation · · Score: 3, Interesting

    expect civil liberties to really hit the roof over this one... whatever happened to the right of free association?
    You do not, and never have had that right in the UK. It's just that until recently it was rarely enforced.

    It's already too late. The sun is setting on democracy in the UK.
  2. Re:Not even pretending. by Valdrax · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Right, right. Apparently, they're called "witness summons" now for people, though I have no idea what you call subpoena duces tecum nowadays. I'm sure that you have some procedure for compelling potential witnesses to a crime to appear and present documents -- like this data.

    While two university students don't represent your whole population, the tolerance you people have of being watched by cameras all day does. Frankly, I find your countrymen somewhat distubring for supporting 24/7 pervasive surveillance.

    And it's not a non-issue. It's a demonstration of a technique to track the coming and goings of non-criminal citizens for the purpose of determining who they associate with. So what if they claim the ultimate goal is tracking actual prisoners? They've demonstrated a far more useful purpose for it for a nanny state. Can you not imagine the utility this would have in tracking down members of protest groups? This is so much easier to sort through than video footage.

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